A Series of Unexpected Events
by Cassiesmum02
Summary: The last thing Sarah Teller expected in her first year of marriage was to be pregnant and a 'prison widow'.
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

This is set 160 days after the epilogue from ABMT. As a warning I'm going into this completely blind, I have no pre-planned points that I want to happen anywhere in this plot, nothing planned that I'll be building the story around…bar a couple of things that are logical with an imprisoned Son with a pregnant old lady. Because of this I'm not sure how often the updates will come, as this depends entirely on how easy this story flows from my brain to my fingers. Photo on Photobucket.

Waking up to the sound of my phone ringing is unusual, normally it's the sound of Abel crying to be retrieved from his crib or my bladder that wakes me. Plucking the phone off the bedside table my heart falls when I see Lowen's name across the display.

Sliding my finger across the display I bring it to my ear. "Hello?"

"Morning Sarah, sorry to wake you, but Jax wanted me to let you know what happened as soon as I could." Ally sounds apologetic for ringing me while it's still dark outside.

"What happened?" I know my voice is suddenly very abrupt but whatever it was that's happened inside the prison has to be bad for her to be calling so early. "Please tell me he's alive?"

Ally laughs and I relax a little "He's fine, now. But you're not going to be able see him till his release, which is still 3 weeks away."

I take a couple of deep breaths in, forcing myself to relax "Okay, so what happened?"

"He had to have an appendectomy yesterday afternoon. The only advantage that you have of this is that he's been put in a private room at the hospital, of course he has a guard 24/7 but there was a couple of options not normally given."

I sit up in the bed, moving so I'm leaning against the headboard, my back aching slightly "What were they?"

I hear the faint scratching of a pen on paper "If you want to pay additional charges to the hospital he can have a TV in his room."

"Sure, he'll be bored shitless otherwise, are you able to see him?"

"Yes, I have to go in later today to make sure all the paperwork is correct."

I smile slightly "Take him some books as well. Harley mags, anything he wants."

There's a pause on the other end of the phone while Ally scribbles a few lines down "Okay, and the other option you had was for a phone in his room. I figured you'd go for that so it's set up."

She rattles the number off and I scramble to find a pen in my bedside table draw. Jotting the number on the top of a nappy box by the bed I hang up after thanking our very well paid lawyer for letting me know.

Taking a few minutes I struggle out of bed and check on Abel who's still fast asleep. Doj lifts his head from his position curled on his couch on the landing, a few thumps of his tail and his head drops back down to rest on his front paws, his eyes closing again.

Climbing back into bed I punch the numbers into my phone and hit dial. The other end only rings a couple of times before Jax's sleepy voice comes down the line "Hello?"

"Hey baby. I just got off the phone with Lowen."

"She did tell you I'm fine didn't she?" Jax's voice is groggy and I wonder how much of it is sleepiness and how much is after effects of anaesthetic.

I giggle softly "Yes she did. Otherwise I'd be in the car on the way there already. Why didn't anyone call me last night?"

"I don't know Darlin'. They should have as soon as I left the prison, but I guess it all happened real fast." I hear a few rustled movements and Jax groans softly.

"What happened?" I shove the pillows behind me so I can sit up properly.

"I felt real shit yesterday morning but put it down to prison food, hate to tell you but your tough biker husband collapsed and I don't remember anything else till I woke up last night in recovery being told they'd cut part of me out. Gotta say, it doesn't feel good." Jax sounds a mixture of irritated, annoyed and in pain.

"As long as you're okay, Lowen's going to bring you some books and magazines, just let her know what you want. And she's going to get the TV sorted for you today so you won't get bored seeing you don't get to see us again till you're home."

"What?" Jax sounds like he's tried to sit up, the stifled gasp of pain not quite enough for me to miss.

"Haven't they told you?" I sigh, it's typical for the lawyer to know stuff before the guards tell the inmates but this is a bit ridiculous. "Lowen didn't tell me why, but I'm guessing it's something to do with you not being in the prison, you're not aloud visitors, other than hospital crew and your lawyers."

Jax sighs and I can almost picture him running his hand over his face "Babe, I'm sorry."

I chuckle "It's not your fault. It does suck, but you'll be home soon."

A slight squawking noise from the baby monitor makes me throw the blankets off my legs again "Your son's up."

Jax chuckles "How was he this week?"

I step through the open door of Abel's room; Doj's nose is just poking through the bars of his cot. Abel's giggles at the pink tongue that keep slapping outwards his hand. "He's okay, the ear infection's cleared up."

Abel's gaze drifts to me and he starts waving his arms at me from his position standing at the side of the crib "Oh, he did almost walk the other day, I'm hoping that he'll wait till you're home before he actually does though, Grandma's had the camera out whenever she can taking photos. I swear that was the best thing we ever brought her."

Jax laughs, the sound much less pained then before. I wedge the phone between my shoulder and my ear as I reach down and pick Abel up from his cot. "You know I'll make up for all of that when I come home."

Talking while I absently change Abel's nappy and pick him up again "Baby, I know you didn't intend on spending all our birthdays and Christmas behind bars, but shit happens. You'll be home in a few weeks and we can make up for it with Abel's late birthday party. Donna, Al and I have started planning it, we decided we'll have it here. But we're just going to have family, D's so huge that she looks like she's going to pop, I'm sure it's twins again but she won't say."

Jax laughs softly "I bet you're not far behind her."

Pulling the phone away from my ear I stick my tongue out at the display in a childish fit "I can still see my feet, just."

Abel grabs the phone from my shoulder and tries to put the end of it in his mouth, swapping it out with a teething ring I laugh and set him down in the middle of the bed "You just about got chewed, again."

Explaining what I mean takes me a few seconds in amongst giggles but by the time I finish the explanation of Abel and his dribble destroying of my previous phone Jax is yawning slightly and sounding half asleep again.

"Jax, go back to sleep. We can talk later." I dig through my clothes and pull out something for the day, Cherry's opening the store but seeing I'm up so early I may as well go in to sort the deliveries that came in over the previous few days.

"Okay." Jax already sounds like he's drifting off "Love you babe, see you in a few weeks. Look after yourself, and our sons."

"You don't know that it's a boy, and I always do. Love you too." Closing my phone I toss it onto the dressing table and get dressed, watching Abel as he rolls around the bed.

Pulling a t-shirt over my head that Gemma brought me with 'Human Growing' and an arrow I shake my head at it before scoop Abel back up off the bed and bounce him as I walk slowly down the stairs, his giggles so contagious that by the time I reach the bottom I'm laughing with him.

Sitting him in his high chair I pour some cereal that Abel seems to love gnawing on onto the tray and then go to sort out Doj's food, hearing his mouth snapping closed behind me I turn around, a hand on my hip and shake my head, Abel's laughter continues and Doj looks ashamed of himself even as he catches another of the bite sized things in mid-air.

Snapping my fingers Doj comes to my side and follows me to his bowl. "You shouldn't eat that, it's not good for you."

Doj just sits looking up at me, his eyes slightly sad as I take a few of his biscuits out of the bowl "You get less cause you had them." I shrug and drop the biscuits in the bowl "We'll just go for a longer walk this afternoon."

Shaking my head at the fact I'm talking to my dog and my barely 1 year old son I putter around the kitchen slowly making scrambled eggs for both of us with a couple of slices of bacon for myself. My addiction to all things bacon during my pregnancy had Gemma joking that the baby was going to come out with a rasher clenched in his (or her I kept insisting) hand.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

Thanks Dani for pointing out my issue with brought/bought. I didn't notice it before. Hopefully I've caught it in the few chapters I've written so far.

Gemma almost snatches Abel out of his car seat when I pull into the park at TM and immediately starts cooing at him, walking towards the office "Clay wants to see you."

I sigh, turning on my heel and heading towards the clubhouse instead. Pushing open the door I sit down on the first seat I see and look over at him at the other end of the room "Hugely pregnant, you wanna see me you come to me."

Clay chuckles and heads towards me, resting his hand on my shoulder and squeezing lightly before sitting down opposite me "Jax is out soon?"

I nod "Yeah, three weeks. But he's not gonna see anyone. Did Lowan ring Gem?"

Clay grimaces "Yeah she did. Poor woman needs a bonus cause of the ear bashing she got, your mother-in-law was very unhappy at not being able to see her son."

"Duly noted, I'll send her some chocolates with her cheque as an apology. What did you need, I have a hospital appointment in like 45 minutes."

Clay nods "I know, Gem told me. I just wanted to take a few minutes of your time to thank you for everything you've done over the past 5 months."

I shrug "No big deal, I needed to be busy."

"It was though pumpkin. You organised Otto's homecoming, and made sure that Luanne had time off by giving her Lyla's help for a week so they could be together. You put up two of my hooligans in your house for 7 weeks while this place was modified. You made the hugest cake I've ever seen for Miles' patch party and supported Hap when Maria died. You've were there when Donna went into labour, and brought the second cutest baby I've ever seen into the world." He chuckles at my look "You were the first. I swear you came out ready for a baby photo shoot."

I shrug again and pat his hand "It's all for family Uncle Clay. Besides, Happy needed me."

Clay pulls a cigar from his pocket and sits playing with it "That's what his Old Lady is for, I get that he needed you too. Even if I was sure he was going to go into a sugar coma, but what I wanted to say from all of us is thank you."

I frown and start moving so I can get up "That's okay."

Clay holds up his hand "Not done yet. I spoke to Jimmy the other day."

"Fuck. What does that slime bag want?" His trip back through on his way back to Ireland hadn't made me anymore fond of him when he'd hit on Cherry and told Lyla she could do better, while Kip and Miles were standing beside them.

"He sent his thanks for looking after Keri and Trinity." Clay trails off at the end of his sentence and I lean back into my chair and sigh.

"And?"

"He wants to know if Trinity can come back. Mo's having some real problems adjusting to her knowing her dad and can't deal with her attitude." Clay sounds irritated at having become the middle man.

"Course she can. She's welcome to stay with me for as long as she wants. Keri too."

Clay chuckles and nods "Okay, I'll let Jimmy know. Don't know why you put up with the girls."

I shrug as I get to my feet and start moving slowly towards the doors "Those girls need a strong female presence that isn't afraid of the men in their lives, their shadow or what may happen on their street. Not to mention that both of them get time with their fathers while they're with me."

Happy pushes open the door as I reach for it "What's this about being scared of them men in your life?"

I laugh as he holds the door open for me "Not me Hap. The terrors are coming back."

Happy groans and follows me across the lot "No?" At my nod he lifts his hand and presses it to my forehead "Are you sick?"

I giggle as I open the door of the Nitro, climbing back behind the wheel carefully "Nope. Not today. Thought I think that the doc's going to tell me no more driving as of today."

Happy laughs loudly as he looks down where the steering wheel is brushing my stomach. "Move over, I'll take you. Give me a sec to let Gem know."

Leaving the hospital almost 90 minutes later Happy looks sideways at me "That went okay?"

I sigh as I get into the passenger's seat, grateful that he waited in the car for me "Yeah. Like I thought I was given the order of no more driving. Apparently I as I can no longer reach the controls safely while being belted in I can't drive."

Happy shrugs as he pulls out of the carpark and heads back to TM "We'll sort your transport out cupcake."

Leaning my head against the seat I nod "I know. Gem already said she'll do everything she can to help. She's been helping D with Rebecca."

Hap snorts "Course she is, it's her namesake. Are you pissed?"

I glance over at him in confusion "About what?"

"That Donna named her daughter Rebecca Gemma. Didn't you want to do the name after grandma thing?"

I snort back a laugh and shake my head "Nope. I love Gem, really I do. But I'm not going to give anyone her name. One Gemma in my life is enough."

"So, did you find out what you're having?" Happy looks almost eagerly over at me as we coast to a stop on Main Street.

I roll my eyes "Yes Hap. I'm having a baby."

Happy lifts one eyebrow at me and tries to glare, the effect ruined when I blow a raspberry at him "Those in the delivery room will be the first to find out gender Hap. Jax and I both agreed not to find out. And as long as it's healthy that's all that matters."

Coasting to a stop he looks past me "It looks good you know."

Turning my head I look at the space where Shermans once stood, the square space where my store was burnt down is completely different then the square store I'd intended on selling clothes, shoes and cosmetics from.

Smiling at him I wave at one of the women who became a regular in the bakery as she heads into the space. "Maria would have loved it Hap. That's what is important."

Not long after Maria had died the insurance company had finally come back to say that they'd pay out on the arson of the store, consulting with Happy and Cam we'd designed a tiny garden space with a couple of picnic benches and a sail over the whole thing. Al had come and painted a mural of a sunset on one of the walls and we'd left it as a garden for people to stop at while shopping.

It worked well, both for relaxation and for Charming's economy. People would stop there to have a break, which meant they spent more time shopping. While they were there the more garden friendly of them would pluck any weeds they saw. Someone had brought in some additional plants and put them in pots around the kids play area at the back.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

"Hey Babe, I miss you. I'm ready to be out of here and back home. The food sucks, the nurses keep waking me up every 2 hours during the night to make sure I'm okay. I want to be home with you."

I sigh, wiggling further into the corner of the couch "I miss you to. Abel's getting ratty cause he knows something's coming but he doesn't understand what. All he knows is that people keep telling him Daddy's coming home."

Jax chuckles "Yeah, but he probably doesn't remember me."

"He does baby, it's only been 2 weeks since he saw you last. He may just have a bit of trouble with you not wearing orange all the time." Doj curls into a ball beside me, resting his head on what little part of my knee is available for him with a contented grunt. "It official, I can't see my feet anymore and I've had to go to slip on shoes cause I can't reach them to tie up."

"How long left?" He asks quietly as the chair under him creaks. After 11 days of being restricted to his bed after he'd got an infection due to his rushed surgery he'd finally been able get out of bed and move to the chair in his room, he'd been enjoying being able to see out the window for the last 3 days, more so when the guys had gone for a 'random' ride past the hospital twice in the last three days.

"Another 3 weeks. If everything goes to schedule. You've got 7 days till you're home, then 12 days after that is the due date." I can hear Jax moving and giggle "I can't see you nodding baby."

"I just realised that as I was doing it. Has Ope been filming everything like I asked?"

I sign and laugh at the same time, making a very strange choking noise that leads to a coughing fit. Several seconds pass while I try and catch my breath before I can speak "Yeah, he wanted to film the Lamaze class that D and I both went to but he was told if he did then he'd be forced to watch the birth video."

Jax laughs which makes me smile in response "I bet he did. D said that when the kids were born he refused to look below D's waist, cause he didn't want to see..."

"...the mess his playground became." I finish with a giggle and a groan.

"You okay?" Jax's voice is slightly panicked.

"I'm fine baby. Just got a very hard kick right to the ribcage. Chibs wanted me to tell you that all the furniture is set up, we moved stuff around. The purple bedroom set is at TM in our room, the yellow room furniture is in the purple room now and the yellow room is now the nursery. Ali-cat came in and did a mural on the wall in there as well, but this one is from that movie you and Ope loved."

"Cars? Awesome!" Jax says with what I know is a huge grin on his face.

"You should like it. Al covered the whole wall and it took her ages." I frown slightly "Though I didn't know she was doing it till I came back home."

"Where were you?"

"With D. Remember, I stayed with her last week after Rebecca came home to help. Not that I think I was much good."

Jax laughs "Yeah Ope said he was having to buy bacon every day. Were you seriously putting it in everything?"

I shrug, knowing he can't see me "His wife ate a ice cream, roast beef sandwich and he complained about my dipping crispy bacon into salad dressing."

"Babe I think the problem he had was that you were then adding chocolate sprinkles on top of it."

I laugh and struggle to my feet, padding silently through to the kitchen "It was good though."

Pulling open the fridge door I look immediately at the plate of bacon that's taken permanent residence on the shelf. Sticking a strip into my mouth I bite the end of it and sigh "But Gem has told me I need to limit myself to four or five strips a day. Apparently eating half a pound of bacon in three days was a little too much."

Jax laughs "Yeah she told me. How has she been?"

Deciding on one of the sandwiches that Lyla had made for me I lift that off the shelf and head back into the living room "She's been really helpful. I can't reach the controls on the washing machine anymore, or bend over to empty the dishwasher so she's been doing that for me. Cam and Al have been coming over every day to make sure I'm not going stir crazy. Hap rings me every morning to make sure I don't have any appointments. I swear he knows more about what's happening then I do."

"He's taking the protective brother role very seriously Sarah. Did he tell you what he's doing tomorrow?"

Adjusting myself again I wait while Doj settles back down before picking the wrapping of my sandwich open "No, what?"

"He's moving in with Cam till I come home."

My hand falls back to my lap, sandwich untouched "He's what?"

Jax sighs and I hear him moving, running his hand through over his face judging by the rough sound that comes down the phone "I agreed with him babe. You need someone there in the middle of the night if you get more of those fake contractions you had."

I roll my eyes, picking at a seed in my bread "Braxton hicks contractions. There's nothing to worry about though. The OB said that they were normal."

Jax growls and takes a few breaths before he speaks again "Please don't fight me on this babe. I'm not there, I need to know that you're taken care of."

"Okay baby. Happy and Cam can come stay." I let my arguments go, hearing the unspoken side of his sentence, that he hates he's so disconnected and unable to be there. "But if I hear them having sex, or see them having sex then they're out on their ears."

Jax laughs again then stops as a knock echoes through his room and into the phone "Hang on babe. Lunch is here."

A few muffled noises later and he's back with a grunt "This stuff looks like it should be dog food."

"What is it meant to be?" I ask as I bite the corner off my sandwich

"It's meant to be a roast beef sandwich with relish." A disgusted noise emerges from his throat "Seriously I think that the prison food was better than this."

I swallow the bite and resist the urge to moan in appreciation of the bacon that Lyla hid in my chicken salad sandwich "Do you want me to see if I can get Lowan to bring you some food?"

Jax's voice cheers up immensely "Do you think she would?"

I flick my eyes towards the ceiling "Baby with the retainer we pay her she'll do anything we ask."

"Okay, then you ring her and I'll talk to you later?"

"I'll get her to bring you some food this afternoon, can you hold out an hour or so?"

"Sure. There's some biscuits here that look okay."

"Eat your fruit as well baby. Love you Jax."

"Love you too."

I finish the sandwich I'd barely started before ringing Lowan. My request of her to take some food into Jax is met with a burst of laughter I wasn't expecting. It takes a few seconds before she calms enough to talk to me "Sure I can take in some sandwiches and stuff. I have to go into the hospital this afternoon anyway, my brother's in there at the moment."

The usual question answer that follows ends with me knowing her brother had been in an accident which left him in traction.

Hanging up the phone I set my hand on Doj's head and rub gently between his eyes as I lean back into the couch, closing my eyes.

AN: Bedroom suite & Mural on Photobucket (the one that was moved to TM)


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

Website where all photos of all outfits mentioned is on my profile.

The countdown to Jax's arrival home reaches into the last week quicker than I would have expected given how slowly the days previously had moved.

A week before his release date Gemma had gone into high gear with party organising, the entire bar had been restocked almost to the rafters with every type of liquor that was imaginable, beer was stacked in boxes in the new industrial sized walk in fridge she'd had installed. Her and I had taken a drive to Stockton, well she'd driven I'd put my expanding ass into the passenger's seat and picked up enough meat to feed the Sons for a week, or one enormous welcome home party.

Three days before his release the final preparations had been done, the glasses washed, the windows cleaned, the floors polished, the leather on the new booths buffed to a shine. Clay had rolled his eyes at her request to get new pool cues, but when she'd whispered something in his ear his resigned expression changed to a predatory smirk and he'd left the lot.

Two days before his release Sons from other charters started arriving, beginning with Vince and Tank from Fresno. Dani had barely been off the back of Tank's bike before she was at my side talking a mile a minute. The new addition to her left hand had gone unnoticed for ten minutes till she'd picked up a box of napkins and handed them to me. The blushing explanation of a trip to Vegas and a drive through wedding made me laugh but her stunning smile and the obvious joy she's found make me happy for her.

The day before Jax's release Donna and I had sat down with Gemma and laid down the law, as much as we could. We both explained to her that because of the kids Donna would only be there for dinner before her and Neeta would be taking the kids home for the night, she'd agreed without question to taking Abel for the night.

I'd told Gemma that my appears would only be guaranteed for the first hour, but when the alcohol level got higher than the level of clothing covering I told her I would be heading for the hills, either the house or our new room, now located at the end of the hall on the right hand side, the left hand side had Opie's room while the dead end of the hall was now 3 metres closer to the main room with a door in it leading into the new kids room.

The morning of May 16th brings his release. I'd been awake before the sun was up, the nerves finally getting the better of me at 4am when I'd thrown back the blankets and gotten up after two hours of tossing and turning. Thanking Gemma for having taken Abel the night before I pad silently down to the kitchen and flick the lights on.

When Happy finally stumbled out of the spare room at 8am his eyes widen then narrow finding me sitting at the table with a plate holding the evidence of my bacon and egg breakfast in front of me in the small space that was free of cupcakes.

"Yours is in the oven. Leave the cupcakes. Plate will be hot."

Filling up his cup from the pot of coffee I'd started for him about 20 minutes earlier he frowns "How much coffee have you drunk?" 

I poke my tongue out at him "None. You know I'm not aloud it at the moment. I wish."

Happy opens the oven door and reaches in "Hot plate." I remind him a second before his hand touches the porcelain.

He scowls at me and picks up the tea towel I'd left beside the oven, using it to carry the plate to the table. "Well I could have not saved you food you miserable bastard."

Happy's eyes widen and he almost drops the plate onto the table "What?"

I shrug, picking up my plate and dropping it into the sink and ignoring the sound of shattering china, staying completely silent till I get to the door "I didn't have to save you breakfast, I didn't have to slave my ass off in this kitchen for the last four hours while 8 months pregnant to make cupcakes for a bunch of bikers who won't give a shit if it's cupcakes or dog food they're eating. I didn't have to spend the last 6 months running round after everyone else while my life was put on hold. I didn't have to do everything I have done in the last 6 months to make sure that everyone else was happy while I worried every single fucken night about how my husband was, whether he was going to come home to me and our children."

Stomping up the stairs I almost slam the door to my bedroom, instead closing it firmly and leaning against it willing the tears in my eyes to vanish. Deliberately sliding the lock on the door over I pause for a second then undo it when I get a kick in the ribs "Okay okay I get it. Leave the door unlocked in case something happens."

Rubbing my hand over my belly I move to the bathroom and sit down on the edge of the bathtub "I guess I owe Uncle Happy an apology." Another kick to the ribs makes me chuckle lowly "I'll do that later."

Two hours later I finally emerge from my room again and head straight down to the kitchen where I find the funniest sight I would have thought, Happy standing in one of my aprons setting cupcakes into boxes on the bench.

Looking over at me he sets down the cupcake and without a word crosses the kitchen and wraps his arms around my shoulders "Feel better cupcake?"

I shake my head, my nose burrowing into his chest "No. I feel miserable and I took it out on you and it wasn't fair."

Happy laughs, his hand coming up to ruffle my hair "It's okay."

"No it's not. You should be mad at me."

Leading me to the table Happy makes me sit down before he sits opposite me and takes my hand "Gemma told me that you were gonna blow soon."

"What?"

Happy rubs his free hand over his head and leans back, my hand falling into my lap "Gem's been watching you, truth be told everyone has. Clay, Chibs, Ope, Piney, Sack, D, Lyla, Cam, Miles, Al. Me. We've all been waiting for something to break."

"I'm confused." I say slowly watching as he gets up and retrieves a bottle of water from the fridge.

"Simple, Ope did time when the twins were barely a year old. Granted it was only 30 days. Clay did a stretch not long after he and Gem got married, you knew that." I nod silently, the 8 months Clay did had been really hard on Gemma, and Jax, "Every single one of the Sons that have done time have all said that at some stage their Old Ladies break. Everything becomes a huge problem, life becomes hard and someone has to bear the brunt." Happy laughs again "I just didn't think you'd choose the day your Old Man gets released to finally crack. I thought you'd be the exception to the rule of imprisonment insanity."

I look up at him through my eyelashes and wait, the way he's holding himself I can tell he has something else to say.

"Jax decided that someone needed to be here the whole time he was inside in case you needed help. Gemma agreed cause she knew that you'd need someone to help. You think you've done it all but you haven't noticed what everyone has been doing _for_ you." Happy takes a breath and smiles at me "You didn't notice that in the last 6 months you've never had to put gas in your car, or that it's been washed and cleaned every two weeks, you didn't notice that you haven't done washing or dishes for the last 6 months. Your lawns have been mowed and your garden done before you even noticed."

I lean back in my chair stunned as I think through the list of things he's just said, realisation that I've acted like a bitch flinging itself into my brain "I'm sorry Hap."

Getting off his chair Happy crouches in front of my chair "None of us did it for the thanks, or the recognition. I may have stayed here for the cupcakes." He says with a chuckle "We did it because you're family and we knew it would be hard with Jax inside. But if you're over your mental breakdown now we'll let it slide." He pauses for a second and looks over at the bench "As long as you let me have a cupcake."


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

S's dress on Photobucket.

Happy drives me to the lot with the backseat loaded with boxes of cupcakes, one minus the two he ate and the one I had when the smell of the miniature chocolate truffles I'd topped each with got too much for my nose.

Gemma opens the door and pulls me out into her arms "You okay baby?"

I shrug, the smells of her perfume mixed with the smell from the lot, the oil, grease, petrol smell that clings to everyone that spends more than an hour a day at TM climbing in my nose and relaxing muscles I didn't even realise were tense.

Leading me towards the door she gestures towards Miles and Kip who hurry to help Happy with the boxes in the boot "Course you're not. But he's home today."

I smile brightly as the door opens and Clay steps out "I know."

Clay stops and gives me a hug and Gemma a kiss "We're heading out now. Don't know why the fuck they had to take him from the hospital back to Stockton just to release him."

Gemma snorts a laugh "The logic of our justice department. Be safe and bring our boy home."

Clay whistles loudly "Time to go."

There's s loud scuffle of boots as the Sons all head to their bikes, Lowell in the flatbed with Jax's bike on the back and his 2 year old son beside him.

Pulling me the rest of the way into the clubhouse Gemma ignores my protests about the boxes in the back of the truck telling me that the crow eaters will get them, a wave of her hand has four of the women running out the door, well as fast as they can on their heels.

An hour later Gemma is busy watching her grandkids, Ellie and Kenny playing on the swings as she holds 3 week old Rebecca in her arms while Abel is beside her in the pushchair having a nap. Coming back out of the clubhouse having changed into the dress that Gemma brought me I walk slowly across the lot, my hand on my lower back.

Gemma looks up when I reach her side and smiles "I thought it would be too long."

"It would have been if not for a massive growth sticking out the front of me."

Poking her tongue out at me she reaches up and settles her hand on my belly "That massive growth is gorgeous. And you know my son will say the same."

I shake my head, sitting down slowly "I doubt it. I can't see my feet, the doctors ordered no sex even _after_ I told her he'd been inside for the last 6 months. I feel like I've put on 10 pounds in the last week and I look like I've swallowed a beach ball."

Neeta bursts into laughter and leans back to look at me, a huge smile on her face "You be quiet girl. Your man will love you even more cause of that beach ball."

Gemma nods in agreement and rocks Rebecca when she stirs "He's going to love you cause you're carrying his son."

"Or his daughter." I reply for what seems like the millionth time.

Gemma shakes her head "Tellers breed boy's baby."

I bite the tip of my tongue, not telling her that I have a gut feeling it's a girl, that I have since I found out I was pregnant.

Lowell pulls the flat bed back into the lot and backs it into its place, jumping out he heads towards us "They're about 20 minutes behind me."

Hearing that sends a jolt up my spine and for some reason I start to feel nervous tension knotting my insides.

Gemma pats my hand as Donna comes over, her eyes automatically checking on all three of her kids before she sits down beside Gemma and runs her hand over Rebecca's head. "How we doing out here?"

Rebecca is passed from grandmother to mother in an easy swap barely bringing a squeak from the sleeping infant. Looking over at them I cock my head in silence till Donna looks up at me "What?"

I shrug "Do you think it'll come to me as easy as it did to you?"

Donna waves her hand under Rebecca's back towards the twins "They were my test subject to find out what worked and what didn't. You've had Abel to learn."

I shake my head, looking down at him where he's still sleeping in his pushchair "I didn't though, he came home already sleeping through the night, I never had midnight feedings. I had a nurse to tell me what his cries meant so I never had to work them out."

Gemma and Donna both surprise me by laughing. Gemma gets up and dusts off the back of her pants starting towards the garage "You do what's best for you and your baby, it will come naturally I promise."

Donna nods as Gemma throws the door open of the club house and disappears within "She's right. Advice from other parents is worth nothing, each child is different and each parent is different. What you've learnt from Abel will help but this new baby, they'll be someone entirely new with new patterns."

Resting my head on Donna's shoulder I look down at Rebecca "But you seem so at ease. You know what she wants before she wants it I'm sure."

Donna shrugs her other shoulder, Rebecca moving gently "It may seem that way now. You were there for the first week so you know it's different. Besides, you've got me, Gem, Lyla, Cherry, Cam and Al to help. And the fountain of knowledge that is our lovely Neeta over there."

Neeta looks up from the book she was flicking through and shakes her head "You won't get parenting advice from me, I haven't got any kids."

I lift one eyebrow at her "But how many kids have you raised, or helped raise."

Neeta throws her arm in the air "I'm not gonna get into that."

I giggle as Rebecca opens her eyes, the tiny green orbs identical to those that look out from her mothers' face, opening her mouth she grizzles a little and Donna immediately gets to her feet heading towards the door "I'm going to take her and get her fed and changed before Jax gets back.'

I look down at my watch "According to Lowell we've got about 15 minutes."

"I'll be back in 12 then."

I smile slightly at her, but I know that it looks strained and she pauses "You'll be fine S. Jax loves you. He always has."

I nod at her and she disappears, her voice drifting over her shoulder "Still Aunty S, worried that Uncle Jax won't love her anymore. What a banana she is."

I poke my tongue out at her and she laughs as she reaches the door, pulling it open with one hand "Saw that. He loves you, stop worrying."

Watching seconds tick by on my watch it seems like the next 10 minutes pass in slow motion. Each second takes a minute the minutes taking hours. Donna appears at my side after 13 minutes, her hand cool on my arm "You okay?"

I look at her and know the fear is plain in my eyes "I'm not sure. I feel sick."

Donna lifts her hand and presses it to my forehead "You are a bit warm. Have you drunk any water today?"

I gesture at the bottle at my feet "Yeah, Lyla brought me some just before."

Donna frowns slightly, pulling me towards the picnic tables "Sit in the shade then. You need to get out of the sun."

I glance up at the sky, the cloud cover light but enough that it's not scorching hot in the garage enclosure, there's a breeze blowing slightly. Following her silently to the picnic table she makes me sit down, handing me the water "Drink that."

I nod and sip at the cold liquid in the bottle before setting it against my head "I can't be sick D. I just can't."

Donna sits beside me and tucks her arm around mine "I know S. You're just over excited."

I can't help the laugh that comes out of my throat, the sound cutting off when the sound of Harleys approaching reaches my ears. Getting to my feet I feel my eyes widen as an uncomfortable wet feeling spreads down my leg.

Looking at Donna I know my eyes are as wide as saucers when she pales slightly "What?"

"I think my water just broke." I pause and take a breath "Either that or I wet myself."

Donna sums up my feelings in one word as the first of the bikes turn through the gate "Fuck."


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

Photos of Jax on Photobucket, ignore the different hair lengths Short but this chapter sets up the next one. I was blown away by the reviews on the last chapter. Thank you all.

Donna watches me with one eye as the last of the trail of bikes comes through the gate, Jax planted right in the middle. My eyes trail behind them from where I'm standing, leaning against the picnic table as the bikes are lined up.

Jax is pulled off his bike into his mothers arms while a crowd of Sons gather around, the ones that didn't make the journey to the prison. I feel an odd emotion and it takes me a second to realise the feeling is that of not belonging, of not being needed. Jax is still working his way through the Sons, his attention being pulled rapidly from one to another. Kozik grabs his attention from the other side of the group but before Jax can move Tig slaps him on the back and gestures in my direction.

It seems like it's slow motion as he turns around, finally spotting me. The smile that spreads across his face is almost heart stopping in his intensity but it quickly fades to a concerned look as he crosses the lot, dropping into a crouch beside me he grabs my hand "Babe you okay?"

Donna takes a quick glance at my face and shakes her head "Apparently the excitement of your homecoming has sent her into labour."

"Fuck. Really?" Jax's eyes dart from my face to Donna's then back to mine when I suck in a breath through my teeth.

"If that was anything to go by then yes I would say I'm in labour." My fingers slowly relax the iron grip they had on my dress, my knuckles going from white to normal colour slowly. "That did not feel like a braxton hicks."

Donna snickers, moving from my side and quietly walking to Gemma and whispering in her ear. Gemma closes her eyes for a couple of seconds before moving through the crowd towards us. Sitting down beside me she reaches over and grabs a hand "Always have to make things interesting."

"Ma." Jax says, in a low tone. "She didn't plan this."

Gemma laughs, patting Jax's shoulder "I know baby."

Pushing myself off the bench I hug Jax tightly, kissing him solidly on the lips, feeling the scratch of his goatee against my skin and the almost tentative brush of his tongue across my lips.

Sucking in a gasp of air as another pain shoots across my lower back Donna frowns "Right you. Car. Now."

I nod silently, holding my breath till the spasm that grabbed my muscles relaxes "I'm getting there D."

Donna's laugh drifts over her shoulder "I'll go unlock the car, and make sure we can get out."

I nod at her retreating back, watching as she picks her way towards the gate and the car park right at the edge where she'd pulled her car into earlier.

Returning to my side a couple of minutes later after a walk through the crowd she nods "Car's free. You ready?"

I nod again, keeping my voice for the words I'm trying to piece together in my scattered brain.

Donna waits till I start moving before she heads off again, Gemma following her till a mid-point where Gemma heads towards Clay and Donna's frame disappears behind Opie. It takes less than two minutes for me to travel the length of the lot from where I was sitting to the car but in that time Donna and Gemma obviously finish their conversations as both of them meet with Jax and I at the side of Donna's car.

Clay shakes his head, his cigar hanging out the side of his mouth while Opie laughs, clapping a hand on Jax's back "Out of jail and father take 2 all in the same day. We'll send everyone home and celebrate later."

I shake my head furiously which gets five sets of eyes burning into mine when I finally open my mouth "Jax should stay here." I pause for a second to take a couple of breaths "He just got out and we've spent a week planning this party for him." Another couple of breaths I can see that someone's about to protest, but I'm not sure if it'll be Gemma or Jax that does it first so I lean against the side of the car "Besides, it's only 6pm. The likelihood is that I'll be in labour for hours." Fixing my eyes on Jax I squeeze his hand "Stay. Have a drink and some food with your brothers. Then come see me later."

Jax opens his mouth to protest but Donna silences everyone "S. Get in the car now. Jax will stay here but you and I have to get moving."

Nodding at her she pulls open the passengers door and waits while I get settled before closing the door, darting around the front of the car I can see her mouth moving as she speaks but can't hear the words she's saying over the sound of blood rushing in my ears and my own breath.

Jax lifts his hand and presses it to the window catching my attention, the worry on his face obvious so I force a smile mouthing 'I'm okay.'

Chibs arrives at Jax's side, handing him a beer and saying something that makes Jax laugh and turn away from the car as Donna finally gets into the drivers' seat and starts the car "Ready?" She asks me as she moves out of her carpark.

Shaking my head furiously I look over at her "Nope. Right this second I'm terrified."

Donna laughs and smiles at me "Good. You should be. You were there when Becca was born. Birth is not pretty, it's not easy, it's not glamorous but it's sure worth it."


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

I finished this chapter and then closed it. For some reason the changes didn't save so I had to write the last 1/3 of this again! So irritated, and the second time round didn't flow as well.

Pulling into the carpark at the hospital Donna runs to the door, returning a couple of minutes later with a wheelchair which she pushes right up to the door, waiting while I manoeuvre myself out of the car and onto the seat.

Pushing me towards the door she leans down and looks over my shoulder "You'll be fine."

I bite my lip slightly as the doors slide open "If it's anything like your labour then Jax could get rolling drunk tonight, sleep, sober up and come in tomorrow at lunch time and be just in time for the main event."

Donna pats my shoulder firmly as she stops me at the counter where a disinterested nurse looks up and frowns "Yes?"

10 minutes later I'm silently thanking the Lamaze instructor for giving us all copies of the hospital admission paperwork and telling us to fill it out and carry it around with us until needed.

Donna helps me change from the dress which is now as close to ruined as it will ever be into a hospital gown before settling me into the bed as my OB/GYN walks into the room.

"Shouldn't you be at a party?"

I roll my eyes and nod "I should be, this is 3 weeks too soon."

Peg shrugs, her bright red hair swaying as she moves around the room, washing her hands "You know we weren't 100 percent sure of due date. We estimated the first week of June, but there was space for error in there. There's always space for error. I told you that."

I nod as she fastens a couple of machines to me, one around my belly which I remember her saying will measure the contractions and an oxygen monitor to my finger. "So tell me what you've felt so far."

Filling her in on the events that had happened she nods as she takes notes on a page, looking up idly as the machine starts printing rapidly.

A few minutes later she finishes the initial readings and her notes, leaning back on the stool she gestures towards Donna "So is your husband or mother-in-law coming like you'd planned?"

I shake my head "I told them both to stay at his welcome home party. D here gets to be the sole witness to this."

Peg frowns and looks over at Donna, lifting an eyebrow in silent question which makes Donna nod "Yeah, she told them to enjoy themselves at the party."

A sound at the door startles me as Jax brushes past the curtain which had been pulled "Like that was gonna happen." Leaning over he kisses my forehead before turning and sticking out his hand "Jackson Teller. Ignore her please, sometimes she says the dumbest things."

Peg laughs and shakes his hand "I was wondering why you'd choose to not be here."

Jax narrows his eyes at me but I can plainly see the love in his gaze "I'm not sure why she thought that either. So tell me, what do I have to do, and expect."

Peg leans forwards, her elbows on her pants legs "Of course, you wouldn't have had to deal with labour with your first son given Abel's dramatic entrance into the world."

Jax nods, his eyes drifting away for a second before he visibly shakes his head "No, unfortunately I didn't."

Peg smiles "So because this is Sarah's first baby it's all new for her as well, she has the advantage of course of being there when I delivered Rebecca."

Jax nods and gives Peg his full attention as she runs quickly through the things that she'll be watching for, the things he needs to do for me and the things that Donna will be doing.

While Jax is being bombarded with information Donna leans over and whispers a couple of questions into my ear. My nod at both has her disappearing into the attached bathroom and turning the water on into the tub before disappearing out the door to retrieve some water.

By the time that Peg is finished telling Jax everything Donna has reappeared and the bathtub is almost full. Jax jumps to his feet and helps me through to the bathroom when I suddenly realise something and lean against the door shaking my head "Baby you stay out there and ring Gem to let her know I'm fine and this will probably take hours."

Jax frowns and looks down at me, his forehead creased "Why? Don't you want my help?"

My cheeks heat up and I look down at my feet biting my lip.

Donna bursts into laughter behind him making him turn around "What?" He asks her, the frown still stuck on his face.

Donna ducks under his arm and pushes me backwards into the bathroom, closing the door behind her "Are you serious?"

I shrug, walking past her to the sink.

She snorts behind me and pulls open the door, stepping out of it "You're being stupid. Jax she's embarrassed about having a beach ball inside her."

The door closes again a second later leaving on the sound of two people breathing in the room. Jax crosses the room on silent feet, the sound of leather moving softly giving it away till he reaches my side.

His hand settles on my shoulder and he turns me around, lifting a hand to my chin he forces me to look at him, his eyes burning into mine "Are you actually embarrassed?"

I pull my head out of his grasp and push past him to sit on the closed toilet lid breathing my way through what seems to be a very short contraction.

Jax sits down on the edge of the bath and looks at me "Babe I'm not leaving till you talk to me."

I bite at my lips trying to keep inside the thoughts whirling around my brain, looking at him through my eyelashes I can see the need to know look that's plastered across his face and with a sigh I open my mouth, trying to articulate what I'm thinking.

"I've done this all alone. I went shopping for baby furniture alone. I went and brought baby clothes alone. I stocked up on nappies, wipes, formula, bottles, bibs and pacifiers alone. I went to all my OB/GYN appointments alone. I went to all Abel's hospital appointments alone. I welcomed home Uncle Otto alone. I said goodbye to Maria alone." I swipe angrily at the tear that escapes the corner of my eye. "I wanted today to be perfect. I wanted you to enjoy your ride back from the prison and then for your welcome home party to be exactly what you needed after six months. But before that I wanted me to be the first person you looked for when you got to TM. I wanted it to be my arms that you went into the second you got off your bike. I wanted your eyes to meet mine when you'd parked your bike."

I give up trying to keep the tears from leeching out of my eyes "Instead I was ignored, forgotten about. You came back to your mother and your brothers and seemed to forget your wife who was there waiting for you, the wife who has been there waiting for you for the last six months carrying your child."

Jax looks startled but now that the torrent has started I can't bring myself to stop it "You weren't there to see the struggle with running the businesses. You weren't there to see the things I did to keep Abel entertained. You weren't there when your mother was under my feet every day. You weren't there when my boobs swelled. You weren't there when my body started looking like I'd swallowed a beach ball. You weren't there when I realised I couldn't see my feet anymore. I've done everything in the last six months I could to make sure life went on as normal and you could step back into it like you'd never left but the truth is that I don't think I know how to be with you anymore."

Jax's head lifts slowly and my gaze meets his, his blue eyes swirling angrily.

AN: Who actually thought Jax _wouldn't_ be there?


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

Jax takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he rubs his hands over his face. "Hap told me your temper was a bit short today so I'm going to be understanding here and ignore all of that."

I roll my eyes as his eyes snap back to mine. With a low growl he shakes his head "Fine for some reason you want to fight today. First picking a fight with Happy now me. But you want to think you were alone through it all you were the furthest thing from alone that you could be. I spent every day that I was in that prison thinking of you, dreaming of you, wishing I hadn't been such a dumb fucker and overreacted like I did but you know my bike is an extension of me. I'm as possessive of it as I am of you and Abel." I nod in semi stunned silence and he smirks at me "I wanted you to be the first person I saw as a free man but you didn't come to the prison. I knew you'd be waiting for me at TM but I expected you to be at the front of the group not hiding in the back." I make an irritated noise in my throat which he brushes off with a wave of his hand "I understand why you weren't now, doesn't make it hurt any less that you weren't standing there waiting for me."

He sighs and moves so he's right in front of me, dropping to his knees on the cold bathroom floor "It hurt for about 10 seconds, the second I saw you sitting on that picnic table. That one look reminded me of why I do everything I do. Why the 6 months inside was worth it. You're everything to me Sarah. You and Abel, and now this one." He reaches his hand out and settles it on my belly "As for your idiocy of being embarrassed about being pregnant I think you look gorgeous." He stands up slowly, his fingers dragging off my gown covered stomach "If you want me to leave I will." He pauses, his hands hanging in front of me "But you have to tell me you want me gone."

I open my mouth to say something, but whatever it was I was going to say is cut off as the strongest contraction I'd felt grips my body. All my muscles seem to spasm, my hand shoots up and grab's Jax's, squeezing his fingers tightly I whisper "Stay. Please."

He drops back to his knees and folds his arms around mine, some dim part of my brain realises it's the first time he's hugged me since he got back, and wonders if his hands meet. Jax chuckles into my ear "I'm not going anywhere. Not even if you had told me to leave."

As the contraction passes there's a soft knock at the door and Donna opens it, poking her head in "Have you two sorted yourselves out or do I need to go down a floor and get a couple of physiatrists?"

I squeeze Jax's hand as he chuckles "No we're okay D. I think I'm over my insanity."

Donna laughs and pushes the door open further "Do you still want that bath?"

I shake my head "No. But I do need some help standing up."

Jax and Donna both help me to my feet, Jax's hand immediately settling into the middle of my back, his fingers pressing lightly. "You okay?"

I look up at him, knowing my gaze is full of pain "No. Far from it."

Waddling back into the main room Peg looks up from her notes and smiles "Decided against the bath?" 

I nod "Yeah, I don't think I could get in there, and then get back out again. And this hurts."

Peg smiles, her face lighting up "Well it is childbirth. It's not painless. If it was then men would want to do it."

Jax lifts his eyebrow but says nothing as he helps me settle back on the bed. Peg comes over and reattaches the contraction measuring machine to me and grins "How are you doing?"

I shrug "I don't know."

As she looks over at the machine a contraction squeezes my body, my hand automatically finding Jax's by my knee and gripping it till my knuckles turn white.

It seems like hours until my body relaxes again, the muscles that had bunched to the point they felt like snapping sagging till I felt boneless. Looking at Peg she frowns "That's odd."

It's Jax that reacts before I can "What's odd? Is she okay? Is the baby okay?"

Peg lifts her eyes before focussing back on the machines "She's fine, baby's fine. It just appears that your baby may be more than ready to greet you. Her contractions are the level of someone who's ready to deliver."

My head snaps towards her "What? But I've only been here for 30 minutes."

Peg shrugs "How long have you been having contractions? And don't lie."

I bite my lower lip before sighing "Okay, so maybe this morning I was feeling uncomfortable, but I just thought that they were Braxton Hicks' again so I ignored them."

Peg looks over her shoulder at the clock "This morning, what time?"

"I got up at 4, couldn't sleep for nerves." I glance over at Jax and smile "So I got up and puttered around the kitchen for a few hours. They probably started around 7am."

Donna leans over, getting right in my face "So you spent all morning having contractions and ignoring them?" I nod and she chuckles "Guess we know why you bit Haps head off."

Peg moves to usher Donna and Jax behind the curtain to perform an examination until I point out that they're both going to be there for the actual process so that's pointless.

Pulling a pair of gloves on she moves her chair to the end of the bed and completes the internal exam fairly quickly, Jax looking horrified at the whole process. "I was right. Give it another couple of contractions and I'll check again, but at this stage you're about 9 cm's dilated."

Jax looks over "What does that mean."

I shake my head when Peg opens her mouth and the second word is cervix "It means that the baby's going to be here very soon."

Jax pales and nods, his eyes flicking around the room rapidly.

15 minutes later Peg grins at me after doing another examination "Next contraction I want you to push."

I lean back against the pillows, the previous contraction having wiped most of my energy "I don't know if I can."

Donna leans over the bed, her face so close to mine that when she speaks her breath brushes my eyelashes "When I said that what did you tell me?"

I groan while she laughs, Jax looking between us confusion lighting his face. "Yeah that's right." Donna continues. "You said 'Harden up Princess'. So guess what I'm telling you now?"

Jax chuckles and picks up my hand again "Babe you're doing really well. Listen to Peg and we'll have our baby soon."

The next contraction tightens my muscles and I pull myself up, pushing as hard as I can till Peg tells me to stop. This happens four times before she looks up at me and grins "Last one."

One more push and there's a squeak from the end of the bed. Peg looks up again and grins "Congratulations it's a …"


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

A short one...but the answers to the questions. And yes please imagine Peg with bright red hair and a shoe salesman husband.

Before she can say anything another contraction tightens my body and I shake my head, the sudden unexpected pain bringing tears to my eyes. "Why do I still feel like pushing?"

Donna pats my forehead, muttering about the placenta which makes Peg nod as her assistant comes over and collects the baby, taking it away to be weighed and get the blood tests done.

Peg frowns as I push again and then looks up, her eyes widening in surprise.

Jax catches the look "What? What's wrong?"

Peg shakes her head and looks at me, her eyes locking on mine. "Do you have a history of twins in your family?"

I try and sit up, but the pain in my back stops me "No. Why! Am I having another baby?" I know my voice is shrill with shock as she looks back down.

Peg nods once "It appears so. We didn't see it on any of your scans. Nothing gave that impression." Shaking her head once she goes back to professionalism and tells me to push with the contractions. As we wait between contractions she takes off her gloves and sticks her head out the door asking someone to bring an ultrasound machine in.

Four contractions later there's a scream and she smiles at me, handing the second baby, one that none of us was expecting, off to another nurse. Looking up she meets my expectant look with another smile "I want to do a very quick ultrasound to make sure there's no surprise third baby. Any urge to push?"

I shake my head as she squirts cool gel onto my stomach, the ultrasound wand moving quickly. Showing nothing at all she nods "Just the placenta then."

After delivering the placenta in what has to be the easiest thing of the whole day Peg washes her hands again as Donna and Jax help me sit up. I'm just settling back against the pillows when the door opens, both nurses coming back in with blanket wrapped bundles in their arms.

Jax grins "So we get to know what they are now?"

Peg looks over, her hand flying to her mouth "Shit! I didn't tell you." She colours slightly "I guess the blanket colours give it away."

Picking up the paperwork she glances at it quickly "Baby one was a girl, 5 pounds exactly born at 245. Baby two was a boy, 5 pound 4 ounces born at 315."

I groan "No wonder I felt like I had a beach ball inside me. There was 10 pounds of baby."

Peg chuckles and looks back down "Initial tests show everything is fine. Blood was sent away to check for heart conditions, but both babies look fine."

Donna finishes fluffing the pillow behind me when both babies are brought over to the bed. Jax carefully lifts each of them, settling our little girl into my arms before sitting on the edge of the bed with our baby boy in his arms. The look on his face is pure love, shining from his eyes straight into the tiny wrinkled face wrapped in pale blue.

Donna disappears out of the door, returning a few minutes later with an apologetic look on her face "Jax your mom and I think all of SAMCRO are in the waiting room."

Jax looks up and shakes his head "I'll be out later. Tell them to wait."

Donna giggles and leaves the room again as Jax looks over at me, his eyes bright with tears I know he won't ever shed in front of the people still in the room "I love you."

I nod, leaning my forehead against his shoulder "I know. I love you too. And I'm sorry I was such a pain before."

Jax shrugs "Don't apologise. Now, names for these two."

I smile down at the sleeping face "Guess it's just as well we had names picked for both a girl and a boy."

"Yep." Jax says with a slow smile "Hansel and Gretel."

I slap his arm lightly with my free hand, giggling "No. Okay, Romeo and Juliet." When I poke my tongue out at him he grins widely "Thelma and Lou." Grimacing at him he chuckles and leans down, whispering in my ear "What about Bart and Lisa."

"Ick." I shake my head at him "Stop being a dick."

Jax laughs at me "Sure, swear in front of our children. Such a bad influence."

Donna sticks her head back into the room and smiles at us both "I told everyone that the delivery was over and you were fine. Because it's almost 7pm now they've closed the ward for visitors. They only let me back in cause I was a support person. Gem was not happy at being sent home without seeing the new baby." Donna chuckles "I didn't mention anything about their being two of them. That's your news to share. But right now, I'm going to take myself home."

I nod and gesture her over so I can hug her "We'll see you tomorrow."

Donna squeezes my shoulder and kisses my cheek "Course you will."

Peg looks up from the table where she was filling out paperwork "I'm all done here. You're free to move into a room whenever you want. Jax, I think given the circumstances you can stay tonight so I'm going to let the nurses know. They will come in and check on Sarah every few hours and I'll be back at 8am tomorrow but seeing the delivery was so easy I wouldn't imagine that you'll be here any longer than tonight and tomorrow night."

She leaves the room, stopping in the doorway to talk to one of the nurses who comes in with a smile and a wheelchair and removes the baby from my arms, silencing my half formed protests as she passes the bundle to Donna "I'm here to move you to your room. It's down the other end of the hall. Then we'll get you to feed them to make sure that you're able, and that they're happy to take the breast, some babies don't."

Jax opens his mouth as I move slowly but I glare at him and shake my head "Not one word Teller."

Snapping his mouth closed we hear a snort of laughter from Donna who steps backwards with our girl in her arms.


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

Once I'm settled in the room, babies fed and in cribs on one side, Jax sits down in the armchair on the other side, the first time he'd sat down since arriving at the hospital.

Jax leans forward, resting his hand on my arm "You okay babe?"

I nod, my head resting on a pile of pillows, propped so that I can see the tiny babies sleeping peacefully "Surprisingly yes. Tired, sore but I'm okay."

Jax runs his hands over my skin "Go to sleep then. I'm not going anywhere."

I giggle and nod again "I'm glad to hear it. We've got three babies now." I close my eyes but a second later they snap open "We're going to need another crib."

Jax squeezes my wrist lightly "Just relax. I'm not going shopping for another crib right now. That would give it away." He leans over and kisses my forehead lightly "D knows where you got it?" At my nod she chuckles "I'll get the info off her and go pick another one up tomorrow. Then at least I'm assembling something for our kids."

I shake my head almost frantically, grabbing his hand "See if Ope or Happy can do it. I don't want you to leave me."

Jax blinks slowly before pressing his lips to my forehead again, keeping the contact as he speaks "Okay babe. I'll get Ope to."

Sitting back into his chair he pulls it at close to the side of the bed as he can, his hand curled around my head, fingers idly tugging at my hair.

It's mainly the gentle feeling that lulls me to sleep, but the smell, ever so familiar, of Jax's cologne helps my brain relax as my body does till before I can say anything else my eyes close and refuse to open again.

It's pitch black in the room when I open my eyes again, lying in the uncomfortable hospital bed it takes me a second to realise what has woken me up. Looking over towards the cribs I smile slightly at Jax who is standing silently between the two, his hand resting on a side of each. Looking up as I shuffle he smiles at me "The nurses wanted to take them into the nursery." I shake my head rapidly and he chuckles softly "I told them that they were fine in here. That we'd prefer they stay with us." A little squeak sounds again from one of the cribs making him look back down "She's awake."

I shuffle up in the bed till I'm sitting properly "Bring her here then. She's probably hungry."

Jax lifts our daughter from her bed and carries her towards me, his arms dwarfing her small frame. It takes a few minutes before she's happily sucking, an envious look on Jax's face that makes me snicker. It's almost like they timed themselves, just as our daughter finishes her midnight snack our son wakes up and announces loudly that it's his turn. Jax carries him over and we carefully swap, Jax's nose wrinkling as he gets the first diaper change.

"For someone so cute that is disgusting." He says, leaning backwards.

I giggle my way through the rest of the second feeding, and my own bout of diaper changing, silently agreeing with the exclamation of disgust but not verbalising it.

Once both babies are asleep in there cribs again Jax sits down beside me and grabs my hands "D told Ope, but he's the only one. He needed to know why they were going out tomorrow, today really, to get another crib."

I nod "I don't want anyone to know until tomorrow when everyone can come. Can you get them all here?"

Jax chuckles "I'm pretty sure that Ma will be here at 7am even though visiting hours don't start till 9."

I shift again and Jax instantly sits up "Are you okay?"

I bite my lower lip for a second before looking at him "Yeah, but it's kinda embarrassing."

Jax lifts an eyebrow and waits till I exhale "I need to go to the bathroom but I don't think my legs will support me properly."

Jax shakes his head and is at my side before I can blink, pushing the blankets off my legs "I'm here to help you babe. You have to tell me what you need though. Remember. I'm not a mind reader."

Jax helps me to the bathroom, a small room shared between my room and the room on the other side, hovering at the door when I wave him out with a blush. When I'm settled back in the bed I sigh and lean into the pillows which suddenly seem a lot more comfortable than they had been.

Tilting my head so I can look at him he waits for several seconds of silence before clearing his throat "What? Do I have baby poop on me?"

I shake my head with a smile "No, I'm just enjoying seeing you out of prison orange. I missed you baby. I didn't think I would, talking to you every day for the last three weeks, but seeing you there _free_ make me realise just how much I need the touch of your skin along with the sound of your voice."

Jax smirks, leaning back into his chair "I missed you too. And as for the touch of my skin, no can do, doctor's orders. Now, go back to sleep."

I nod, my eyes already drifting closed "Get everyone to meet here at 10am. Including your mother. Make her go to Stockton in the morning for those huge scones that I can't replicate."

Jax leans over again, pressing a kiss to my mouth, his goatee rough against my chin "I will babe. Now sleep."

AN: Next chapter we finally name the twins…names I've had picked out since what feels like forever ago. And probably a cut down in the amount I've been posting will come soon as I've had a week off work, but going back to work in two more days. :-(


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Photo of S's outfit and babies outfits on website.

Over the course of the night the twins each wake once more at around 3am, within a few minutes of each other but other than that they seem to be very solid sleepers, both of them silent till 6am when they both decide it's time for breakfast. A little after 9 am the door opens and Peg walks in with my folder in her hands and a hospital assistant on her heels carrying a change of linen for the bed.

Peg smiles at Jax where he's sitting beside the twins, his chair dragged right beside them. "Right, if you feel up to it Sarah you can go have a shower. Jackson, you help her. I'm going to do a few quick tests on the babies, follow ups from last night and we'll draw some blood to check there's no heart issues. We may want to do a scan later, but I don't see any issues with them yet so I don't think that's needed."

Jax gets out of his chair, stretching for what seems like a long time before coming to my side and helping me up "D left you some clothes aye?"

I nod and point at my bag. Just before we close the bathroom door Peg looks at me with a faintly worried look "You may hear them cry when we're drawing the blood but don't worry okay?"

I snort "Like that'll happen."

Peg laughs "Yes, Ann told me about your reaction in the Neo unit when Abel was having bloods done."

I blush faintly as Jax pushes me through the door, my toiletry bag in his hand.

By the time I'm finished showering and dressing, pulling on a pair of leggings and a button up shirt it's almost 10. Donna slips through the door, her feet silent on the floor, a smile on her face "Everyone else is waiting in the waiting room for you."

I nod and Jax holds up his phone "I know. My mother has been texting me every minute since she arrived, an hour ago." He glances over at me "With the scones you asked her to get."

Jax waits while I finish brushing my hair, pulling it into a ponytail before he cocks his head to the side "Your hair is shorter."

I snicker and nod "Yeah, I had it cut after Abel started using it as a hand hold to get onto his feet, and a steadying post when his legs wouldn't quite support him." The fact it's taken him so long to notice that the hair that did hang down to my waist now barely passes my shoulders isn't surprising, the excitement of him coming home and then me going into labour had his attention elsewhere.

"You ready?" He asks, making me sit in a wheelchair before settling the sleeping babies into my arms. "This is the end of our peace and quiet."

I snort and look down "I think these two were the end of our peace and quiet."

The two tiny faces are completely relaxed in sleep, their heads in my elbows and their wrapped legs sitting on my lap, their legs pressing together. "Your mother is going to be ecstatic."

Jax nods, leaning down and kissing my cheek "She will. But whatever happiness she feels is a fraction of what I feel. I love you, and all three of our children." Jax presses his lips to mine, allowing a brief kiss before he pulls back with a grin "Time to meet the family kids."

Donna waits patiently by the door till he looks over "Is Abel out there too?"

Donna nods "Yes. Abel is with Kenny, Ellie and Rebecca. The four of them have been keeping Neeta busy all morning. Your mother took off early to get those scones that S used as an excuse to get an extra couple of hours peace." She grins "Ope and I will go out this afternoon to get the other crib and get it assembled before you go home tomorrow."

I lean against the back of the chair and look up at Jax "Any suggestion of your mother coming to stay with us is to be denied venomously. I love her, but I don't want to share you now that I have you back. And I don't want to share the first days with these two."

Jax nods, kissing my head once more before pushing me slowly out of the room "Of course babe."

Donna leads the way down the hall to the waiting room that's right at the other end, as we reach the doors she and Jax swap places so Jax can go through the door first, Donna now pushing me "The circus begins in 5, 4, 3…"

Jax pushes open the door and leaves it cracked as he goes in, Gemma's voice immediately starting "Where's Sarah. They wouldn't let me come down last night, something about the ward being closed. I tried to explain that I was your mother but they told me it didn't matter."

Jax nods, his voice faintly muffled through the wood "There was a complication."

There's a collective inhalation that Donna and I both hear, but Clay's voice breaks over it all "Sarah's okay?"

Jax laughs "She's fine. So are the babies."

Complete silence settles over the room as Jax pulls the door open so Donna can wheel me in "This is my daughter Bailey Grace, and my son Caden Wayne. Both born yesterday and in perfect health."

AN take 2: Last chapter for a while, I haven't had a chance to get anything writen so my buffer of chapters is down to none. I'm half-way through chapter 12, but not sure how to move forwards. As always, all feedback is aprpeciated. Any suggestions for things you'd like to happen (other than Wendy not being dead) are welcome.


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

Jax grins down at me then looks back up at his brothers. Opie's leaning in the back of the family room, his arms around Donna's shoulders and a grin on his face. Happy's face looks like he's not sure if he wants to grin or grimace which ends up making him look like he's just had a lump of ice dropped down his back. The rest of the guys look like they're taking a few seconds to have the words connect between their ears and the brains.

Clay is speechless, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. The second Jax said his daughter Gemma had sat down in a hurry, her knees buckling (thank god for the chair that Luann pushed up behind her). Cam, Al, Lyla and Cherry all have huge smiles on their faces, but of everyone in the room it's the voice of an unseen face that breaks the stunned looks "Two babies?"

Trinity pushes her way through the crowd and comes to my side, her face flushed with the effort it took to move Otto and Bobby apart so she could get through.

I blink in confusion as she crouches beside me, her fingers tentatively coming out and brushing over Caden's head. Looking up at me she grins "I'm back."

I chuckle and smile at her "I see that Trin. When did you get back here?"

Otto sighs "About 2 am. We'll fill you in later."

Gemma finally regains the use of her legs and makes her way to my other side, uncharacteristically falling to her knees, her wide eyes fixed on Bailey's face "Are you sure that she's a girl?"

Jax laughs behind me "Pretty sure. I got diaper duty and she certainly doesn't have what her brother has."

Gemma leans forward and kisses my cheek "Congrats baby. And thank you."

I lift an eyebrow and she reaches over, gently touching Caden's cheek "His middle name."

I shrug "We thought about naming him Thomas, but in the end we decided that no one could ever live up to Tommy's name and we didn't want to try."

Gemma swipes at her eyes, the faint glisten of a tear vanishing before it fully forms "You didn't have to."

Jax leans down and presses a kiss to his mothers cheek "Ma, we wanted to. Now drop it."

Gemma chuckles "Okay. So tell me everything."

I shake my head "Other than the fact that two of them was a surprise to all of us, including Peg, the delivery seemed to be completely normal. I get to go home tomorrow, provided nothing happens."

Gemma nods, her eyes moving between her two newest grandchildren till a grin suddenly stretches across her face "So now we have another thing to organise."

I frown slightly "What?"

Gemma bounces to her feet, her eyes shining in a way that tells me she's already in mid-plan "A welcome to the world party."

I start to shake my head again till she narrows her eyes "You promised." She whispers and I sigh, nodding instead.

As Gemma disappears through the door I catch Donna's eye and jerk my head towards the door Gemma went through "Please make sure she doesn't go overboard."

Donna laughs "Good luck with that."

In the wake of Gemma leaving everyone else seems to regain their ability to move. Jax reaches down and carefully lifts Caden from my side, pressing the tiny baby into Clay's arms it looks like a giant holding an infant. Bailey barely stirs as she's lifted up by Luann, who turns and is immediately engulfed in a circle of women, Cam, Al, Lyla and Cherry cooing and smiling silly little grins.

Jax crouches down beside me as the babies are looked at, Clay refusing to let go of Caden even as Bobby tries to lift him up. "You did good babe."

I rest my head on his shoulder, shaking it once "We did good."

Jax chuckles and runs his hand over my head "I didn't do much. But while we have a free second, wanna tell me about that addition I didn't know about?"

My brain goes fuzzy and I feel myself frowning as I try and think what he's talking about till he pats my leg lightly and the confusion clears.

"Oh that."

Jax nods "Yeah, that."

I lift my leg so that my shin is on display, parts of words visible "I missed you so Alibean and I designed something."

The banner that is now etched into my skin from my knee winding around my calf three times before stopping at my ankle has words that only make sense to the two of us. The curly writing saying 'Till the sun stops shining and the rain stops falling. I will love you till the sky falls and the planet dies.' While they were words said with desire in his voice the words Jax had said to me stuck in my head and demanded permanent imprinting on my skin as well as my heart.

AN: Further on choice of not using Thomas, I just felt it was so cliché that my entire brain rebelled at the thought of using it. However Wayne was Thomas' middle name so that was acceptable.


	13. Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

So I decided when a chapter doesn't have a picture that directly correlates to it I'm going to post whatever my desktop picture happens to be when I open the chapter to post (as 99.9% of the 900 odd photos that my wallpaper scrolls through are Charlie).

Clay had refused to give up Caden to anyone, carrying the tiny baby around like the proud grandfather he is. When Caden squawks once Clay looked at Jax in a panicked expression that made me giggle. Jax had risen from his place at my side where he was quietly talking to Opie and retrieved Caden and brought him to me before Clay could even say a word.

Looking up from the screwed up face of my son I'd shrugged apologetically "Sorry, time for them to eat and then go back to sleep."

Jax stayed out in the family room while Donna and I took the twins back to the room, got them fed and to sleep before Jax reappeared with a strange look on his face.

"What?" I'd asked, a sense of panic at not being able to read his expression.

Shaking his head in a daze he smiles at me and leans over kissing my forehead "Nothing for you to worry about babe."

Lifting an eyebrow at him he sighs and leans back into the armchair "But you will, won't you?" At my nod he glances over at Donna who shakes her head once, gives me a hug and leaves the room, calling over her shoulder that she'll be back later with Abel.

My head swivels between where Donna had made her rapid exit to the darkening eyes of my husband. "Clay is going on about me taking the VP role again, I still don't want it."

I stay silent, knowing that there's more to it than just that, sure enough after a couple of seconds of silence he sighs "And Trinity going to be staying with us till the decision is made about if Luann can handle another woman's child staying in her house."

I nod, understanding Lu's reluctance to have someone elses child, a child she didn't know existed, suddenly in her house 24/7. "That's okay, she'll be fine with us. And she's good help."

Jax snickers "And having her there means that there's nowhere for Ma to stay." I frown and he shrugs "Hap told me he's not leaving till he knows you're settled back home."

I roll my eyes but nod "I'll talk to him and tell him to go home. I think staying with me, at your request, was a good thing for him. It gave him a detachment from his place while he and Cam sorted out his Mom's stuff."

Jax grins "I know, that's why I did it."

I poke my tongue out at him and he growls till I open my mouth to speak again "And that's why Clay is pushing for you to take the VP role. Everything you do is about the club and the good of the members, and it's future."

Jax shrugs, trying to brush it off till a deep voice at the doorway makes him stiffen "She's right Jax."

Jax turns his head and meets Otto's eyes, getting to his feet, the pair do their standard backslapping man hug before Jax leaves and Otto looks at me, a grin twitching his lips "Thought we better talk some shit about my kid."

After Otto had left and Donna had dropped Abel off Anne comes up to visit, cooing over Bailey and Caden and tickling Abel's tummy with a smile on her face. When she leaves she stops in the nurses station and before dinner a cot arrives in the room for Abel to sleep in that night, the nurse smiling through her explanation that with Jax only just home it might be unsettling for Abel to go from me to Jax so suddenly, then me back with two additional attention seekers.

Jax sighs unhappily till she smiles at him and tells him he's welcome to sleep in the armchair, even though they're uncomfortable. He smiles brightly at me and then turns to her with a smirk "Nothing could be more comfortable to me than a place to sleep where my wife and children are right beside me."

The nurse smiles and leaves, reminding us quietly that I'll be released the following morning, provided that Peg says everything's okay.

As the door closes I adjust myself to a proper sitting position on the bed, Abel curled with his head on my calf sound asleep "How's Doj?"

Jax chuckles for a long couple of seconds "When I went home before to shower and change, and tell Ope where you're orders were to set the new crib he wouldn't let me in the house to start with."

I snicker but sit waiting while he pulls his phone from his pocket "When the great clown finally let me through he followed me up to our room and literally pushed me over."

Turning the phone around he shows me a photo that was sent from Opie's phone of him lying on the floor with Doj lying on him, his butt on the floor and his front paws on Jax's shoulders.

"How long did he kiss you for?" The bright pink tongue that is mid-slap at Jax's chin makes me laugh more than the disgusted expression on Jax's face.

"Oh not long. D arrived with the twins and he took off in a great hurry." He snaps his phone closed and puts it back in his pocket "What's up with Trinity and why is she back?"

"Trin doesn't know this yet but she won't be going back to Ireland."

"Why?"

I run my hand through the bottom of my hair, tugging lightly "Because Maureen Ashby is dead. Otto didn't give me all the details, just that the IRA found she'd been supplying information that resulted in the deaths of two Belfast charter members three years ago, and the arrest of one of the Kings sons."

"Fuck." Jax says on an exhale "That explains some shit."

My eyebrows lift as he swears twice in one short sentence, my eyes flicking to the sleeping bodies of our children "Language baby."

Jax snorts "Please, they'll learn more than that by the time they start school. Besides, we have bigger problems than their non-existant vocabularies."

"What?"

"If Maureen Ashby was suppling information to the wrong parties then the whole Belfast charter is going to be under examination. I need more information from Otto before I can say anything for certain, but some of us may have to go to Belfast to deal with the blowback."

I'm shaking my head before he's even half finished speaking, knowing somewhere deep in my brain that I'm not going to like the words that come out of his mouth. "No." I spit out the word like a mouthful of venom.

Jax looks at me, his face stressed and troubled, holding more knowledge and responsibility then a man of 24 should. "You know I won't go unless I have to."

Leaning back into the pillows I cross my arms "And you know you'll be needed. You're the future President of the charter baby. If it was any other charter, any other State, any other _person_ you wouldn't have to go but Jax you know who you are, you know the legend that hangs over your head."

Jax snorts and folds himself in half, his arms resting on the bed, his head falling onto his forearms "Sometimes it's more like a noose around my neck." Looking up at me I see the pain in his eyes at the mere thought of having to leave so soon after getting home.

Lifting one hand I rest it on his head, my fingers tugging at his hair "You know Gemma will tear strips off Clay if he tries to send you away now. Besides, it's not like you can leave the country."

Jax chuckles "We're not going to be going through customs at either end babe. _If_ we go."

I nod once, my mind already churning through possibilities. Landing on something Jax sits up with a surprised look as a huge grin splits my face. "What?"

I shrug one shoulder casually, moving the hand that was on his head to Abel's where my fingers abesently comb through his whisper fine blonde hair "If you're going to Belfast, so am I. But I'll go legitmatelty _with_ our children."

"What?!" Jax sounds horrified by the idea "Babe Belfast isn't the best place for you to be with three infants. It's not safe."

I narrow my eyes at him "Exactly. If it's not safe for me then it's not safe for you and you are _not _going. I don't care if Clay needs you there, I need you here more."

Jax nods once, reaching over and tangling his fingers with mine "I'm not going unless I have to. But you're not going at all."

Sighing I shake my head against the pillow, twisting my head to look out the window. "I just got you back Jax and now you're telling me you might have to go again." Looking at him quickly I can see he's listening to me, even though his eyes are focused on Abel "The club asks a lot of me and most of it I'll give without a second thought, or any hesitation at all. You know that. Clay asks a lot of me as not only your Old Lady but also his niece and most of it I'm fine with it. This, I'm not fine. He can't have you."

A tear slides down the side of my face, lifting my hand to swipe at it angrily I look at Jax, whispering "Just once please baby put me first, if you can't put me first, put our children first."

The sound of a throat clearing in the door startles me, but not as much as the look on Clay's face does. "Jax can I have a second with Sarah?"

Jax gets up and kisses my forehead "Sure Clay. I'll go get some coffee. You want anything babe?"

A single shake of my head has them swapping places, Clay folding his huge frame into the seat "He told you?"

"What about, Trinity moving to California and staying with me? Maureen Ashby's death? The charter having to go to Belfast? Take your pick, today I seem to know a lot."

Clay sighs "That last one. He has to go."

There's no need to specify who 'he' is. My veins spark with anger at this whole thing, Jax having come out of jail and me going into labour the same day now him having to go away "No."

Clay's eyes widen and his hand tightens minutely "What?"

I shrug, "You heard me. No. You can't have him. Not right now. You heard me, I'll give a lot for this Club, the Sons have done a lot for me but I can't give you Jax again, not right now."

Clay sighs again, his eyes holding sorrow and something else "Pumpkin you know I wouldn't ask if I didn't have to. The Kings want to see him."

I shrug "I don't care." I know I"m acting like a child, but having just given birth I feel like I have the right too "If they want to see him they can come here to California where he's going to be with his wife and three children."

Clay standing up and leans over the bed. Pressing a kiss to my forehead he sighs deeply "You know if I could I would but the Kings want to see him and we can't say no, not with how easily they let pull back from it all." 

I stick my lower lip out in what I know is a pout but nod once "I know." I whisper as his hand hits the doorhandle. "I know." I repeat a little louder when his head twists "I know I have to let him go with you, but it doesn't mean I'm not going to sulk and make you_ all_ make it up to me."

Clay laughs, pulling the door open to reveal a semi-startled looking Happy on the other side.


	14. Chapter 14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Website where all photos of all outfits mentioned is on my profile. Sorry all for the delay in this chapter, I've been more into reading lately then writing but I think I've finally got a little bit back in the groove. I've read the first three of the Mortal Instrument series, re-read 50 Shades (don't judge lol), read both of Nikki Pink's books that are currently out, and all Madeline Sheehan. Anyway; without further rambling I give you...Chapter Fourteen.

Happy looks a little uncomfortable as he and Clay swap places, just as the door starts to close I lift my head "Hey Clay." Clay turns and looks over his shoulder at me, almost grimacing at the grin on my face "I want 2 weeks with him before you take him anywhere. Stall the Kings for that long and you can have him, and I'll sort transport for you."

"I'll see what I can do. 2 weeks might be too long, they want it sorted before it happened."

I shrug casually "So start by telling them that I just gave birth to twins and I have demanded in my pain induced state that you wait a month. 2 weeks will seem resonable by the time you negotiate to then."

Clay chuckles and starts down the hall, his muttered words reaching my ear just before the door closes "Why does she have to be logical?"

Happy takes the seat that had been dragged to the bedside, his eyes flicking around the room, stopping on Caden then Bailey he shakes his head "Jax said you wanted to talk to me."

I frown for a second, wondering where on earth that came from, then remembering the way I'd treated him I silently thank my husband for interferring. "Yeah I did. I wanted to apologise to you."

Happy narrows his eyes as his gaze locks back on me "What for?"

I exhale in a little snort and wave my hand around the room "For the way I spoke to you. I had no right to be so rude."

Happy laughs, his face crinkling into lines as he tilts his head back, chuckles shaking his shoulders for what seems like an exceptionally long time. Eventually gathering his composure again he looks back at me "Cupcake I'm not worried about you having a bitch at me."

I smile and reach over, grabbing his hand and squeezing "Good, cause I would hate it if Bailey's godfather hated me."

"Her what?" Happy looks shocked, his hand lifting towards his face, then dropping back into his lap.

"Her godfather. Jax and I talked about it, we're not doing the whole Christening thing, cause well lets face it none of us are like that. But we do agree that all three of the kids need godparents."

Happy's stunned expression doesn't lessen, the look strange on the tough mans face "But why me?"

I shrug one shoulder, looking over at the sleeping faces of the twins, their cribs head to head then glancing down to where Abel has slept through the conversation with Clay, and now Happy. "Because we both know how much you will protect her. She's going to need someone who can teach her how to throw a punch, and how to clean a gun, how to change a tyre and how to do a handbrake turn."

"Shouldn't Jax do that?" The club enforcer asks, his eyes lit with curiosity.

I shake my head "Jax will teach her everything she needs to know to be a good daughter, I'll teach her how to be a good woman. She needs someone who isn't going to be scared to give her a lesson that leaves her with skinned fingers and aching muscles. Not that I am in any way giving you permission to hurt her." I glance over at her, even so soon after her birth it's obvious to me she's going to be stunningly gorgeous when she gets older "She's going to need to know how to defend herself in case anything happens because of her connection to the Sons. Abel and Caden too, but they'll get that from their father and every other Son. You know that Jax wouldn't be able to teach her everything she knows without worrying about her. She's going to be a daddy's girl, I can tell."

Happy snickers and glances over his shoulder at the door "Jax is already wrapped around her finger?"

I nod "Yeah that's the one."

Happy stands up, crossing to the crib and looking down at the newborn covered with a pale pink blanket "Who else?"

"Huh?"

Happy reaches down and presses his fingers to Bailey's head "Who else did you pick as godparents?"

"Abel's are going to be Ope and Cam. Caden's will be D and Chibs. Bailey's are you and Al." He frowns slightly and I smile "We did that on purpose. Jax wanted to match everyone up in couples but I pointed out that if anything happened to both of us we needed their to be more than one option."

Happy returns to his seat and shrugs casually "I can get that, but you know nothing's gonna happen to you. Not on my watch."

Shuffling myself around on the bed I reach down and stroke Abel's hair as he starts to stir "I know that Hap. Nothings going to happen to anyone. Now tell me when the fuck Cam's coming to see me?"

Happy chuckles and shrugs "I dunno. She was gonna come with me today but got caught up doing some shit for you."

"What stuff?"

"Helping Lyla with a stocktake you asked to be done this week."

I blink up at him and search my memories "Oh shit. Did I?"

Happy nods "Yeah you did. Cam and Al were both heading there this morning to help."

The door swings open again and Cam, Al, Lyla and Cherry all fall through it "And it was a bitch. You owe us. Big time girlie." Cam says with a chuckle, kissing Happy on the top of his head then dropping into his lap with a sigh. "But you need to do some ordering."

Happy detangles himself from under Cam and sets her down "And that's my cue to leave. See you at home later?"

Cam nods "Yep. Love you baby."

Happy just nods and pulls the door behind him as he leaves.

Lyla sets the work laptop on the tray beside me "Numbers are all in there. When you get a chance you need to do some ordering."

Al lifts Abel's leg and sits on the end of the bed, nodding "Yep. There's like four pairs of pants left in the whole place."

Cherry snorts "Only cause you took two of them with you, there would have been six otherwise."

I zone out for a second, till Cam waves her hand in front of my face "You okay there chickie?"

I shake myself out of the thoughts of Belfast and Irish Kings. "Yeah I'm okay. So the Sugar's been going okay? What about Sweet." I mentally chuckle at the names picked for my two businesses.

Cherry grins at me "It's going better than we thought, even after upgrading the business plan after the first couple of weeks it's still busier than we expected."

I frown and notice how tired she looks "You need more help?"

She shrugs but Al nods "She does. At least one more full time, maybe one more part time, mornings probably."

I twist my head to look at Al and nod once "Sure, advertise. Maybe the part time we could look at a student, someone from the high school."


	15. Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

I'm so sorry for the delay!

The rest of my afternoon passes slowly, the girls leave just before 4 and I'm left alone, completely without company till just after 7 when Jax finally arrives back, his face flushed and his hair damp.

"Hey babe." He comes straight to my side, kissing me on the forehead, tickling Abel on the tummy then sitting down in the uncomfortable hard backed chair that was brought in when the girls came in "Sorry I was gone all day."

I shrug, slightly annoyed, but happier to see him than anything "It's okay, I've only been alone for the last few hours." I pause and chuckle at myself "Well not alone with these three, but you know what I mean."

Jax nods, Abel wiggles off the bed looking at Jax and holding his arms up and waits. Jax chuckles, leaning over and lifting his son up and sitting him on his leg, Abel babbling a million miles an hour with noises that don't make any sense.

Jax plays dutiful dad, nodding and smiling down at his son, the relaxed way he leans back into the chair making me smile and forget my irritation. "So what have you been doing?"

Jax looks up at me through his eyelashes and grins "Getting the twins room set up for them, assembling the other crib and listing to D and Ope tell me all the things I missed. Watched a bit of the video Ope did for me."

I cringe at that making him laugh loudly "It was funny, and I have to thank Cam for those photos."

I shake my head "Nope. No thanking Cam for anything." Exactly one week after Jax's sentencing Cam had shown up at my door with a grin on her face and a white tank top in her hand. Forcing me into the shirt she'd put me against the brown wall where she'd proceeded to take a photo of me from the front and both sides. "It felt like having mug shots taken."

Jax rubs his hand over his face and grins at me, his eyes still sparkling with laughter "But I liked them."

I look over at him with a raised eyebrow "You liked watching you wife get fat?"

Jax shakes his head, pulling his chair closer to mine and grabbing my hand "You weren't getting fat baby. You were growing our children."

I look over at the twins, sound asleep in their cribs again, "I guess there is one good thing that's come from going into labour before my due date."

"What's that?" Jax says, gently pulling his phone from Abel's hand, looking down with a smile he tickles Abel's tummy again "You're going to be a pickpocket?"

I giggle and shrug "Yeah, probably. He's already managed to take off with a few cell phones. Not sure how he does it seeing he's not walking yet. The good thing about early birth is I didn't get any bigger and it won't take long to get back into my pp clothes."

"Peepee? Did you wet them?" Jax asks with a grimace making me laugh.

"No, as in the letter P. Pre-Pregnancy. I've been stuck in the same sort of stuff for the last four months, I'm looking forward to my normal clothes again."

Jax shakes his head "I have a feeling I won't be. I talked to Ma while I was out too."

I sigh and lean back into my chair "And?"

"She's filled me in on you not wanting Neeta to pick up any more days. Wanna tell me why?"

I shrug, standing up and slowly walking to the twins cribs "Damn interfering mothers-in-law. Neeta will be coming in two days a week, with her three days at the Winstons' that has Neeta working three days a week looking after children three children each day. I'm not giving her any more work."

Jax lifts an eyebrow "So you're doing it to save Neeta work?"

I nod for a second but catching the look on Jax's face I start shaking my head "That's not the only reason. I also don't want someone else raising my children. Two days a week with her there means I have five days a week to be mommy, two days a week to be Mrs Teller, business owner and every night to be your wife."

Jax's eyes darken and his tongue appears, dragging slowly over his bottom lip till his face falls and he looks like a deprived child "But Peg said no sexual activity for at least six weeks."

I nod "Yeah I know. It's four weeks till I can get another contraceptive shot. And I can't believe I forgot the last one."

Jax looks up at me and cocks his head to the side "What do you mean?'

I sigh, returning to my chair and waiting as Abel struggles off Jax's knee and crawls towards the pile of toys brought in for him "With everything that was happening I missed my shot. It's my fault I got pregnant."

Jax frowns, pushing himself off his chair and dropping to his knees in front of me "Babe are you unhappy about having them?" I shake my head and open my mouth to say something but he covers my mouth with his fingers "Do you not want them?" I shake my head frantically, the thought of my kids not being there making my heart race "Then why are you worried?"

I wait till he removes his fingers before licking my lip, his fingertip has left a sweet slice in the middle of my lip and I wonder for a second what it is before dragging my brain back to the issue at hand "I thought you might have been upset, we talked about it and agreed 2 years between them, there's barely a year between them."

Jax bursts into laughter, so loud that it startles the twins who both make an unimpressed squeak, speaking as he crosses and carefully lifts Bailey up "Yes, we did talk about it. But who cares. They're here and they're perfect. Earlier then we planned or not."

Passing Bailey to me he returns and picks up Caden, our son barely making a noise as he's cradled to Jax's chest and carried across the room.

Carefully arranging both of them on the tri-pillow Donna had brought me I grin at him as he sits back down "So I talked with Clay."

Jax twitches an eyebrow "And?"

"I told him I want you for two weeks before any trip. That gives me two weeks to sort out your transport. Elliot has some machinery due to go to Belfast soon, but I'm not sure exactly when and when the plane will be back. I can probably buy you a week over there. Will that be long enough?"

Jax shrugs, leaning forward and running his fingertip over Caden's head "It should be."

I nod, waiting while the kids feed and pointedly ignoring Jax and his almost jealous look till both kids are fed, burped, changed and back in their cots. "What?"

Jax shakes his head, leaning over and kissing me softly "Nothing at all."

I flick my eyes towards the ceiling, not having the energy to argue with him, the tiredness I can etched on his face enough to tell me not to push, instead I open my laptop to finish the work stuff that Lyla had left me with.

AN: So my current book that's had me distracted is American Sniper. I loved the move, disappointed it didn't get an Oscar but oh well. Oh, and I did re-read what I've already written (all of it from Hale Charming to now) what a journey…so far. And I've been recommended to read Sylvia Day, anyone read her, any suggestions for other authors to look up?


	16. Chapter 16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Peg comes in not long after lunch, giving us the clearance to go home, but it takes another four hours before all the paperwork is done for all three of us and the final release papers are signed.

Watching Jax as he attempts to put all three seats in the back seat I end up sighing "I'm going to have to get a van. They're not going to fit baby."

Jax snorts and shakes his head "Nah, they're all in." The twins seats, including the new one that Donna had picked up for us, are facing the back of the car with Abel's in between facing the front.

I sigh and brush my hand across my forehead "Thank god for that. I kinda like my car."

Jax laughs as the three kids are buckled into their seats, each of us testing all three seats and belts before the back doors are closed.

It takes me a few minutes to get into the passengers' seat and adjust myself so I'm comfortable but when I nod at Jax he starts the engine and backs out of the carpark. "Ma's at the house by the way."

I sigh and lean back into the seat "Why?"

"She thought it'd be nice having a family dinner." Catching my look he chuckles "Don't worry, she's done all the cooking. That's why she didn't make it in today."

I close my eyes briefly before opening them again and nodding "Okay, as long as everyone is aware I'm still pretty tired."

Jax reaches over and picks up my hand, lacing his fingers through mine and pulling it to his mouth where he kisses my fingers "Babe I told them all that when you said go they had to go, no arguments."

"Good. We have three kids that have to sleep. And Mommy needs her sleep too."

Jax squeezes my hand but doesn't say anything.

The rest of the drive home is relatively silent. Abel in between the babies in the back seat seemed fascinated by the tiny bodies on either side of him, but also seemed a bit scared of them, his hands inching towards them then shooting backwards like he thought they'd hurt him.

Finally pulling into the driveway there's a trio of bodies out the front door, Al and Cam both claiming one of the babies while D picks up Abel while I sit looking a little stunned at the lack of even a hello from any of them.

Jax walks beside me slowly as we go up the stairs and into the house where Gemma is waiting just inside the door with a smile and a huge glass of juice "Jax rang me and said the doctors told you to keep your liquid intake up."

I mock glare at Jax but nod. "The only downside of upping liquid intake is upping the liquid output."

Gemma chuckles and moves out of the way "Everyone's in the living room, dinner will be ready in about 2 hours if you want to go rest."

I shake my head "No I think I'm okay. I napped while I waited for the release papers."

Walking slowly through the house Jax darts past me and straight into the kitchen with my bag, reappearing as I reach the open living room door and stop.

Looking over my shoulder at him I lift an eyebrow brow at him "What'd you do?"

Jax shakes his head "I did nothing. Blame D and Ope."

Donna bounces to my side, her arms now free of Abel, grabbing hold of my hand she pulls me into the room and pushes me towards the chair in the corner "We rearranged in here to make it easier for you, the chair will be easier for you to get out of."

I frown slightly at her and sit down slowly before realising why she's done that. Moving one of Jax's lazi-boys into the living room seemed like a strange move till I realise it gives me arm rests on both sides to help me down and back up again.

Once I'm settled in my seat Donna crouches down beside me with a grin "Happy?"

I shrug "I'm happy to be home." My eyes drift towards Jax where he's standing talking to Opie "But we haven't addressed anything."

Donna pats my hand "Give it some time."

"I know, he's just come home and instead of having a few weeks to get used to each other instead it's getting used to each other, and two whole new human beings. One of which we didn't know existed."

Donna glances over her shoulder at the rest of the room and then looks back at me, her eyes holding concern in equal measure as the love that shines at me "You know when Ope came back it took months for things to go back to normal. I think you have an advantage over me though."

I cock my head to the side, my gaze drifting over the room once, checking on Caden in Jax's arms, Bailey in the arms of Chibs standing right next to Jax and Abel sitting on Clay's lap before focusing back on Donna "How? How do I have an advantage?"

Donna chuckles "You know Jax so well, you know what makes him tick, what he loves, what he hates, what he want is and what he wants to be. You know more about the ins and outs of the club than anyone else not wearing a patch, including Gemma half the time." I stifle my snort of disbelief but shakes her head once, rising from her crouch and sitting on the arm of my chair, her forearm coming across the back of my neck "Even if you want to disbelieve that part you do know Jax better than anyone else alive, trust him. Give him time to get used to being out and a father of three. Support him, listen to him when he says when he speaks, half of what he will say won't be relevant but half of it will give you insights you aren't expecting."

Leaning my head back I rest it on her arm for a second, thinking about what she's said before grinning at her "So basically you're telling me to shut up and wait?"

Donna nods "Exactly."

Jax approaches, baby less for the first time since the hospital that morning "The kids are hungry. Ma took them upstairs. Do you need help?"

I shake my head, pressing the sides of the chair as I stand up "Nah I'm good. They'll probably fall asleep again when they're fed but I'll bring the monitor down with me."

Jax grabs my arm just before I can walk past him, pulling me to his chest and looking down "I love you."

Pressing myself against him I squeeze his waist, mumbling into his kutte "I know baby. I love you too."

The smiles that crosses Jax's face lights up his eyes as he leans down to press a kiss to my forehead "I'll see you when you're back down here. Call if you need anything."


	17. Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Gemma is sitting on the armchair when I come through the door, both babies in her arms "They're heavy when you hold them together."

I chuckle as I walk across the room, sitting carefully on the rocking chair "10 pounds of baby."

Gemma shakes her head after I'm settled with the pillow I'd grabbed. "How are you doing sweetheart, honestly?"

A million thoughts run through my head, the dozens of things I need to ask, the questions that are haunting me. But everything I need to ask, all the answers I need are locked in the pale haired head of my other half downstairs.

Smiling at the 2/3s of my children in my arms I shake my head "I'm good."

Gemma smiles at me as she gets up, walking towards the door "Okay."

Less than five minutes later the door pops open again and the head I was thinking about peeks through "You okay, Ma said you needed something."

I sigh, lifting Bailey and burping her quickly before holding her out to her father "New diaper please, this one's still eating."

A few minutes later Caden pulls away, his face relaxing into sleep. Before I can stand to take him and change him Jax lifts him from my arms and does it for me.

Settling Caden into his crib beside his sister he returns to my side, pulling the armchair towards me. Lifting my hand off my lap he laces our fingers together "So shall we talk now, or later?"

The expression that crosses my face I know is incredulous "We have a house full of people downstairs and you want to talk?"

Jax shrugs, squeezing my fingers "Now's as good a time as any. The guys are happily drinking the booze that was brought for my welcome home party. The girls are all in the kitchen cooking and talking shit. We have maybe half an hour before someone comes looking and as much as I'd like to use that time reacquainting myself with you in other ways we can't. So instead of brushing it off till the issues we both know are there build to the point of exploding and you have another bitch session at me how bout we do something about it now."

My cheeks colour at the reminder of my attitude towards him from the day he came home but his smile tells me he knows how I feel.

I blink slowly, trying to sort through the questions. The one that comes straight to the front of my brain surprises me when it bypasses my mental filter "Did you miss me?"

Jax inhales in such a rapid intake of breath that he coughs "Seriously? Of all the things you could ask, that's the first one?" I look down at my hands and shrug, a sort of apologetic movement that jerks my whole body from the waist up. "I'm not sure if you remember, I told you at the hospital why time I served was worth it, because I came back to you. You and my children are the centre of my world."

Jax lifts my hands to his mouth, kissing my knuckles softly "I missed you every second of every day I was inside. Every breath I took hurt cause you weren't there breathing the same air. Every time I thought of something I wanted to say to you I had to wait. You know how hard it was, you went through that too. But you had something I didn't. You had our family here, around you every day to share the pain, I didn't." Jax laughs "That's the long answer. The short answer is yes; I missed you."

My fingers tighten around his and he smirks "My question now. Did you actually think I was going to let you go through birth alone?" Seeing the hesitation in my eyes he chuckles "Just speak. Don't overthink."

I giggle "Okay then, you're asking for it. No thinking means you're going to get what comes straight into my mind."

Jax nods once, muttering "Good." under his breath.

"I wasn't expecting to give birth the day you came home. I was expecting to have time together before labour happened, but apparently time didn't agree. You'd literally just gotten out so yes I was expecting you to stay back with your brothers and your family. I was expecting that I'd go to the hospital and be there for ages before anything happened. I would have gotten D to ring you when it got close." Jax snorts and I shake my head "Well I think I would have."

"Babe, you and my kids are my family. But it's your turn." Jax says with a smile. "Don't overthink."

"How hard was it?"

"What?" Jax says, cocking his head.

"Being inside."

Jax pulls on my hand gently till I stand up and end up on his lap, completely ignoring my stuttered protests about being too heavy. "It wasn't bad during the day. They kept us busy, and it certainly helped having lots to read with that shit you were sending me." My cheeks colour faintly again but he shrugs "It was good though. Using the daylight hours to get me up to date with our finances, and everything we have invested. I used those reports to help me get to sleep at night, and seeing how quickly the porn house brought in income was a bright spot, knowing that the club had already paid you back what we used before I even got out was a highlight. Seeing the profit shoot so high so fast was a surprise."

Jax stills completely, his voice becoming sort of distant "The nights, they were difficult. I'd turn over wanting to hug you, to absorb your warmth and you weren't there, all there was a brick wall. I'd fall asleep thinking of you here with Abel, growing our son." Snorting softly he looks up at me "And daughter. I'd wake up in the middle of the night hoping it was all a bad dream, that I realise it wasn't. I'd hear the noise of the prison that just never stopped and it would be a slap in the face of where I was. My cell mate got how I was feeling though, he'd been there for two months of an 18 month sentence when I arrived, his wife was pregnant with their fourth kid and he knew he'd miss that kids birth and first year or so of its life so he got how angry I was at being there, even though it was my own fault."

He smiles at me, his eyes crinkling "The best were the weekends, when you would come and visit. I mean, it was good seeing everyone else on those days you couldn't come, but when the guards would tell me you were there I couldn't help smiling, no matter how shit the week had been. The monotony of each day is what got to me. Here you never know what's coming next, between the garage, the club, the kids and you every day's a surprise. There it was like Groundhog day over and over."

I can't help the giggle "180 times over."

"Exactly." Wrapping his arms around my waist he holds me close, my back folding so my head rests on his shoulder. Sitting in silence for a few minutes he eventually turns his head and burrowing his nose into my neck "You smell different."

I twist to look at him "Is that you're question?"

Jax shakes his head "Nope. But you do smell different."

I shrug the shoulder away from his nose "That's cause I gave birth. Peg said to avoid all perfumes and scented things for a few days after birth so that the baby, or in our case babies, get used to my smell."

"Now, my question." I nod, waiting while Jax's eyes seem to search mine, our eyes locked together while our breathing comes in time "I've told you how bad it was inside, how bad was it here?"

I twist my head, looking around the room and shrug "It was okay."

Jax squeezes my hip "No thinking; just tell me."

I sigh leaning further into his arms "I feel bad though, you were away from us all and it was just horrible here. I hated every second you weren't around. Having D there helped a bit, but some days I just wanted everyone to leave me alone, and it seemed like those days everyone was here, or it was like a revolving door at the front of the house. One person would leave and someone else would arrive. Your mother was coming in every day, at least twice. She'd show up just after breakfast to make sure I'd eaten and that Abel was behaving then she'd leave after about 10 minutes. She'd come back either at lunch time or dinner time if Abel was with Neeta." I snort "As a side note, how are we going to distinguish between the now two sets of twins?"

Jax shrugs "Ours are younger, and much cuter. But continue."

I inhale deeply, letting the breath out slowly "Granted having Neeta around was a blessing some days. I remember one in particular, Gemma had already been in but not long after she left Abel started crying and I couldn't get him to stop. I had no idea what was wrong with him. I'd fed him, burped him, changed him, cuddled him, played with him, I read him a book, gave him a bath and he was still crying. Neeta arrived and within 5 minutes of her coming in the door she'd stopped Abel crying and had Al and Cam on the way to take me out of the house for the morning." Jax cocks his eyebrow waiting for more explanation. "Abel was picking up on the fact I had a bit of cabin fever. I hadn't left the house in about four days by that stage, with everyone coming to me I didn't need to, but I guess I just forgot that my whole world doesn't involve Abel. While it does centre on my children, and always will, I do have a life outside of being Mommy."

Jax nods "I get that babe, I really do."

I smile at him "There's more to me than Mommy, there's business owner, sister, friend, aunt."

Jax clears his throat "I think the second most important thing you are that you didn't mention is Old Lady."

I smirk at him kissing his cheek, revelling in the fact that I can, my lips pressing to his whiskers in a familiar prickling that reminds me in an almost jolting feeling of how much I love the man currently holding me. Tightening my arms around his neck I squeeze, feeling my muscles in my forearms tense. "I love you Jackson Teller."

Jax chuckles, leaning further back into the chair "I know. I love you too Mrs Teller. I think our time up here is almost done though. You ready?"

I slide off his lap waiting till he stands up so I can hug him again, my arms wrapping around his waist while I press myself to his chest "As long as you're there baby I'm good."

I feel Jax kiss the top of my head "If I can help it I'm not going anywhere."

"Apart from Belfast." I mutter into his chest as his arms tighten around me. "But I get you have to go."

Jax and I stand there for a long time, wrapped in each other's arms until a soft knock at the door interrupts us and Cam sticks her head through the gap "Gemma said that dinner's ready."

We both sigh, pulling apart and as I move towards the door Jax grabs my hand, pulling me back to him and kissing me firmly on the lips "I wouldn't be going if I didn't have to. We'll talk about it more okay?"

I nod once and lean over to grab the baby monitor before the three of us head back downstairs, following the sounds of the Sons, Old Ladies and their children that make up our family.


	18. Chapter 18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

A shorter one, but I seem to be back into writing *YAY*

After dinner, while we're all still sitting around the table waiting for Gemma to bring out the dessert she'd brought the monitor makes a noise beside me and I get to my feet, returning a little while later with two fed, changed babies. Handing Bailey to her father I sit down back in my seat with Caden in my arms.

A few minutes later Gemma stands up and comes to our sides leaning over the back of my chair she cocks her head to the side "You better now?"

I poke my tongue out at her "Yes interferer."

Jax squeezes my thigh in the place where his hand has been all night "Be nice. She was looking out for you."

Gemma laughs, patting Jax's cheek "Actually baby, I was looking out for both of you."

Jax and I share a look and she shrugs casually "The first stretch is hard, made harder for you both with the pregnancy."

I snort and lean back in my chair so I can look up at her "First and last I hope."

"We all hope that sweetheart." Gemma gets back to her feet and returns to her chair at the other end of the table with a smile, and the bottle of wine she'd been collecting in her hand.

As she sits down Clay stands up, the whole room falling silent as he stands there for the span of time for each of us to breathe "I'm not one for speeches so what I'm gonna say is short, yes you can all say thank god." He chuckles and looks down at Jax and I "Welcome home son, we've missed you. Sarah, you did good pumpkin. And my fifth and sixth grandchildren, Bailey and Caden. Welcome to the world."

I snicker and he raises an eyebrow "Something to add?"

I shrug one shoulder and look over at the infant sleeping with her hand wrapped around leather "Welcome to this crazy, beautiful, fucked up world my children." Glancing around the table I grin "At least I know that Bailey will have lots of uncles to warn off any boys."

Happy grins in a sadistic way that makes me smile in reply, tilting my head to the side.

Jax lifts his hand and grabs my free one, squeezing "While we're all sitting here we did have an announcement to make." Everyone's eyes flick between us in surprise till Jax grins "We've finally decided on who to title with the godparent role for Abel, along with the twins. Those in question already know." Jax looks over at me "You go first."

I poke my tongue out at him and ignore the heated glance he shoots me "I picked godmothers, apparently because I'm a chick." I glance down at the baby sleeping on me "Which is a good thing, Jax wouldn't have been able to handle childbirth." Jax makes a sound of disgust, leaning back and picking up his beer "So Abel's godmother is going to be Cam. Caden's godmother is going to be Donna and Bailey's is Al. So I fully expect the three of you to behave."

Al and Cam both look at each other and then burst out laughing, saying simultaneously "Us behave?"

Al rolls her eyes looking at me with a grin "If you wanted that you picked the wrong people."

Jax shakes his head and brushes his fingers over Bailey's head "Abel's godfather was a complete no brainer, Ope you've been my brother from the second we met so there was no one else. Caden's godfather is Chibs, but bro you're gonna have to slow down when you talk so that he can understand you." Chibs flips his finger up at Jax and lifts his beer towards me and Caden in a silent salute before Jax continues "Picking a godfather for Bailey was harder than I thought, picking the one brother who would be there for her through everything that may come. It came down to picking the man who was there for my Old Lady from day one." Everyone around the table looks a little confused; the only people who know who we picked are Jax, myself and the man in question.

"So what I eventually decided is that the only man I'd trust looking after my baby girl is the same man who I've trusted for the last 6 months looking after the love of my life. Bailey's godfather is Happy."

Cam's head snaps towards Happy "You didn't say anything?"

Happy shrugs "Not my news to share; besides nothing's gonna happen to either of them."

There's a collective cheer of 'Here here' around the table as Gemma finally gets to her feet, kissing all six of her grandchildren before disappearing into the kitchen for cake.

AN:  
>The 6 grandkids are (just in case anyone forgot)<p>

Ellie

Kenny

Abel

Rebecca

Bailey

Caden


	19. Chapter 19

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Website where all photos of all outfits mentioned is on my profile.

Somewhere around 3 am I give up trying to sleep, Jax and I had put the twins back in their cots upstairs while Gemma had been sorting cake, the cake and coffee consumed in the dining room before the guys all moved to the games room and the girls all stretched out in the living room, chatting quietly. Around 11pm everyone had finally left and we'd headed up to bed.

Sliding into bed beside my husband for the first time in 6 months had been strange, but it seemed that somewhere we'd pissed off Madame Karma when first Bailey woke up at 1215, not settling again until 1245. I'd just climbed back into bed when Abel had woken up, something that hadn't happened for a while, but after changing his diaper he proceeded to play around for almost 40 minutes before finally dropping off back to sleep. Before I'd even put my hand on the blankets to pull them back Caden had woken with a scream demanding to be fed which had led to Bailey wanting to fill her tummy again. Between feeding them both, getting them changed and back into their beds it was almost 230 before I headed back to bed, only to be side-tracked by Doj standing on the landing with his nose towards the stairs.

Taking him outside and watching as he darts around the backyard, peeing twice, and then returning to his bed I end up lying looking at the ceiling for another half an hour.

"If you don't sleep you're going to be ratty tomorrow." Jax's voice is quiet and rough in the silence of our room.

"Ratty?" I reply, biting back a giggle.

"Would you prefer me to say if you don't get some sleep you're going to be a world class bitch, on the level with Satan when he's got PMS and no chocolate?"

The giggle that I'd tried to hold back forces its way through my lips with a gasping bark of laughter that I can't stop.

By the time I stop laughing Jax has turned over onto his side, the dim light from the hallway illuminating his face "That's better."

Cocking my head to the side on my pillow I frown "What?"

"I don't think I've heard you laugh like that since I came back." Jax slides one of his arms under my head, pulling me and my pillow closer to him, nuzzling his nose into the side of my neck he inhales while I stay still.

Eventually breaking the silence my voice is a whisper "Are we going to be okay?"

Jax stiffens and pulls back "What do you mean?"

"Exactly that. Are we going to be okay?"

"I don't get what you mean babe. Okay how?"

I sigh and feel around the bed for his arm, lifting it to my chest and lacing our fingers together, setting them down over my heart "You and I; are we okay. Are we going to be okay with the twins? Are you going to be okay when you go to Belfast? Is Abel going to be okay? Are the twins going to be okay?"

Jax moves again, leaving his fingers tangled in mine but propping himself on his elbow "Abel and the twins are going to be fine. Abel is fine now; the twins showed no signs of any heart problems. Belfast is 2 weeks away, and as far as plans are going we'll only be away a week. As for us being okay with the twins, Ope and Don are okay with theirs. We have them to lean on if we need it. Ma and Clay, Neeta, Al, Cam, Cherry, Lyla, all the guys. Even with six kids around there are still more than enough people to keep an eye on them."

Jax stops for a while, his breath fluffing my hair "As for you and I, well I think we're going to be okay. Babe it's going to take a while for me to get used to being out again. It'll take a while to get used to this total silence at night, the freedom to be able to do whatever I want the quality weed and the free access to booze. The thing I was most looking forward to being free got put on hold, but it'll come." He says with a wicked grin "But it's going to take us both a while to get used to each other again, and the kids, all ABCD of them."

I snicker "Doj is used to you already; he missed you as much as I did."

"I gathered." Jax shakes his head "Abel wouldn't leave my side all night tonight. He cried every time I tried to leave."

"I know." I reply with a sigh "I think he wanted you to come in before, but he's asleep again now. Maybe in the morning you could get him up?"

Jax nods "Okay Sarah. But I do want to know, do you think we'll be okay?"

I shrug "I want us to be, you've only been gone for 6 months so it shouldn't be hard." I look up at him with a giggle "You know I think the hardest thing will be getting used to having a bed partner again. And someone to help with the housework."

Jax shakes his head, leaning down and kissing my forehead "I don't do housework babe. That's what the prospects are for."

"Prospect." I correct with a smirk "Miles got patched in while you were inside. There's only one."

"For now." Jax says with a smile, curling around me again. "Now, try and get some sleep."

The door is closed and the room almost completely black when I wake up again, looking around the room it takes a second to pick what woke me, the absence of light for a start, but also the muffled noises from the baby monitor on the bedside table. It takes a second for me to realise that its Jax talking softly "Should I give Mommy her present when she wakes up? What do you think Bailey, will she like it?" Chuckling softly I can hear him as he moves around the room.

Throwing back the blankets on the bed I stand up slowly, amazed that after a couple of days I'm feeling a lot better, even with the lack of sleep. Going into the bathroom I come back out a few minutes later to find Jax sitting on the edge of the bed "Wasn't expecting you to be awake yet."

I shrug "I was only sleeping about six hours a night when you were away. Mainly due to the weight on my bladder. What's this I heard about a present?"

Jax laughs, flicking his head over to the monitor "Should have known. It's with the twins; they're awake and changed but probably hungry, again."

"You know the last present you brought me was big, shiny and covered in diamonds."

Jax laughs again, following me "This one isn't. It's black and custom made though; I will confess that D ordered it for me when I asked her."

My eyebrows furrow as I open the door, completely missing everything apart from the twins who are lying in their cribs, Caden starting to grizzle slightly. "Food for them first, then present."

Jax points to the rocking chair waiting till I'm set up with the pillow across my lap before bringing first Caden then Bailey to me, watching my movements as I lift my shirt and adjust myself, and them till all three of us are comfortable and the twins are attached to my breasts properly. "What?"

Jax smirks "Never thought I'd be jealous of my own children." Reaching back he pulls a piece of black material from the back of his chair, holding it in front of him "This is your present, but you're not gonna be able to use it for a while."

"Why?" I ask, trying to work out what it is, but the tiny folded square doesn't resemble anything I can figure out.

"Cause D got it in pre-pregnancy size." Unfolding it reveals it to be a t-shirt and when he turns it around I chuckle.

"The tattoo not enough?" The black shirt is covered from neck to waist with bright white writing saying 'Property of Jax Teller'.

Jax shrugs one shoulder "A shirt with writing this big is easy to read from across the lot. The tattoo ya gotta be too close to read properly."

Shaking my head at him I smile "Baby I don't need a t-shirt to tell me I belong to you, I don't need a tattoo to tell me I belong to you." Lifting my hand I wiggle my ring finger at him "I don't need rings on my finger to tell me I belong to you. I belong to you because I love you, I've always loved you."

Jax grins "I know you really don't have to wear it if you don't. I'll leave it in my dorm room at TM."

"Have you been there since the renovations were finished?"

Jax shakes his head "Nah, but we've got church today and then dinner at Ma's. I'll check out how girly you've made my room when we're there."

"We're?" I question, my plans for the day had involved the sofa in the living room and the recorded episodes of two programs I'd been watching, or my bed and viewing the inside of my eyelids. 

Jax nods "Yeah we're." Leaving no argument in his tone I nod once and turn my attention back to the hungry new-borns.


	20. Chapter 20

CHAPTER TWENTY

Website where all photos of all outfits mentioned is on my profile.

By the time we have all three kids fed, changed and dressed with everything in the car that we need for them it's almost 10, the breaks we'd taken to eat breakfast and feed the dog had added less time than it took to dress Abel, even when he had screamed and failed his legs around as I tried to dress him, only quieting when Jax stepped through the door and gently took the shorts out of my hands.

The little traitor had then lain quietly and perfectly still while Jax slid his shorts up his legs and then the black Steelers t-shirt over his neck. Picking up the now fully dressed almost toddler he smirks at me "It's all about being boss."

I snort and return to the twin's room, quietly checking on them before heading downstairs "Yeah, you believe that baby."

Jax stops me before I can even turn the oven on "What are you doing?"

Looking over my shoulder at him I frown "Umm, making breakfast."

"Toast is fine. Cereal is even better." He says, belting Abel into his high chair "What does he get for breakfast?"

There's silence for a couple of seconds till he turns around and sees me standing by the stove with my arms folded, tapping my foot on the floor. Lifting an eyebrow he looks completely confused "What?"

Sighing I lean back against the bench with my arms still crossed in front of me "Abel likes to have scrambled eggs for breakfast, he gets it twice a week. What I was going to do was make enough for all of us to have some. There's some ham, tomatoes and cheese in the fridge if you'd like to get them for me." Turning back to the stove I ignore him as I wander around the kitchen getting breakfast back, smiling to myself when the requested things land on the bench beside the bowl of eggs.

Between Donna and I we spend the time that the guys are in church watching over the kids and rearranging the nursery at the end of the hall of the clubhouse, squeezing in the second cot that Gemma had brought and made Clay assemble, the room is now completely crammed full of furniture, bunks jammed in one corner for Ellie and Kenny then four cots and three dressing tables had left no room for the 2 rocking chairs, till one of the dressing tables had been rendered unneeded and moved back into the storage unit that I'd never quite gotten rid of, but that Gemma had taken over payments on after she half-filled it with spare materials and old stuff from the clubhouse during it's remodel.

Hearing a shuffling from the doorway Donna and I both look over as the new prospect sticks his head through the door "They're done with their meeting."

I nod but Donna just sits there looking blankly at him till he backs away with a flush covering his cheeks. Turning to me when the noise of his retreat is no long audible she giggles "Ope was right, it's fun messing with them."

Shaking my head she shrugs unapologetically "Guess that's our cue."

Walking down the hall I slide my arm through her elbow "Did you get the order for dinner tonight?"

"No." She replies, looking over at me "Mary's in town for the night to meet her newest grandchild, finally."

Glancing over at her I wait while we pass another couple of doors before she eventually huffs out a breath "I just wish she'd make up her mind. She either wants to be a part of the kid's life or she doesn't. Ellie and Kenny are getting confused and poor Opie's getting whiplash from how fast she changes her mind."

"So tell her."

Donna looks over at me with a smile "We are. Ope said he's had enough of me being on edge when his mother is in town. And when it comes down to it the kids aren't going to miss out by not having her around. They've got a big enough family that one more, or less, isn't going to be a big deal." She starts chuckling as we come into the main room, the guys all at the bar already "Ellie called Neeta 'Nanta' the other day. She was trying to say nana and Neeta at the same time, so Neeta now has a new name. Kenny's already picked up on it."

Finally registering the stiffness of the backs lined up against the bar before Jax even turns around I know that something has gone wrong and I sigh, sitting down at one of the tables and resting my arms on the table "So who's gonna tell me what happened and why you all look so pissed?"

Jax spins around and sighs "We look pissed cause we are. And I'm the person you're gonna take it out on."

"What am I taking out on you?" I ask, noting out of the corner of my eye that Donna has been led away by Opie who's whispering quietly to her, her back getting straighter and straighter the further away they get.

"Cause I need you to go see Oswald today and sort a plane for us for two days from now."

"Why?" I ask quietly, narrowing my eyes as everyone else wearing a kutte vanishes from sight to Jax's muttered 'chickens'.

"Cause we have to be in Belfast in 72 hours, Kings orders."

I start a litany of what I'd like to do to the kings under my breath; Jax's chuckling not interrupting my tirade till I mention something about hot tar, feathers and hungry crocodiles. Looking up at him I frown "When do they move their claws into the other charters? When does the responsibility for anything move from you? When does SAMCRO get to relax a bit from the Kings attention?"

"The short answer to that babe is never. SAMCRO is always going to be the Kings first point of contact stateside." Jax pauses in thought for a few minutes, looking around the now empty room "The issue is that a member of the First 9 betrayed the whole club babe. SAMCRO is the mother charter, we have to go and deal or it seems like we're letting the IRA deal with what should be internal issues."

My annoyance turns to concern, the only member of the First 9 that's Belfast based is McGee, a man that Jax once told me as was much an uncle to him as Jury out in Nevada is. "I thought it was Trinity's mom that was the source?"

Jax sighs, rubbing his hands over his face "That's what the Kings were led to believe. We're not going to find out anything more till we get there. Can you contact Oswald and sort that plane?"

I bite the side of my tongue at the thought of him leaving again so soon but nod "I'll go out and see him today, the twins are asleep and should be for the next couple of hours at least but I'll take my phone."

Jax shakes his head "I'll come with you."

I look over at him in silent thought for a few seconds till he looks up at me and lifts his eyebrow "You know I can't go on the bike at the moment don't you?"

Jax laughs, standing up and pulling me to my feet "I know babe. We'll take your cage."

The drive to Elliot's farm is almost entirely silent, from the second we pulled out of TM Jax's fingers have been linked with mine, it's not till we pull to a stop outside the house that he finally opens his mouth "You know the last time I was here you were standing by that door and I was sure my heart was never going to beat again."

I squeeze his hand tightly "Not happening again, but we have an audience."

Jax turns and looks at the house, spotting the face pressed to the upstairs window within a second, a smile crossing his face "That's Oswald's daughter?"

I nod "Tristian. I wonder if she and Trinity would get along. They're about the same age."

Jax shrugs one shoulder as he pushes open the door "No clue babe. Let's go see if her father is home."

Elliot opens the door before I can even knock, turning his very unimpressed looking eyes to the man at my side, then looking over at me and smiling "What can I do for you Sarah?"


	21. Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Super super super short. Sorry!

Elliot's face is beyond stunned when I finish my request "You want me to what?" Is all he's managed to get out.

Sighing and squeeze Jax's fingers again I explain for the third time "I _need_ you to arrange that construction equipment to be leaving the States in two days, the plane then _needs_ to stay in Belfast for eight days, maybe more, I'll let you know. The plane then _needs_ to return to California. I also _need _the flight times of departure and landing as soon as you have them."

Elliot leans back into his seat "Do I get any more information about why I'm rearranging this?"

I shake my head "In the interest of plausible deniability no you don't. All you need to know is dates. Leaving California on May 21st, coming back May 29th."

Elliot looks at me, without saying a word, for several minutes. His gaze not wavering at all, until he finally flicks his eyes to Jax "This has something to do with you I'm guessing?"

Jax lifts his hands and sets them on the desk, leaning forwards so he doesn't have to speak very loudly "It does. I'm not going to tell you more than you need to know, like Sarah pointed out, the less you know the less shit you get in if something goes wrong."

"So how much extra weight am I going to have to add to the manifest?" Elliot asks, dragging a sheet of paper towards himself.

Jax leans back, relaxation settling over him slowly "I don't know."

I chuckle "Go with about 2 thousand pounds Eli." Glancing over at Jax I shrug "Covers guys, gear, and gives a huge buffer."

Elliot nods "That much is easy to account for. No bikes?"

Jax shakes his head "No, no bikes, no cars. And how is that easy to account for?"

Elliot laughs, a genuine smile crossing his face "There are five pieces of machinery going on this trip. The lightest one weighs almost 20 thousand pounds. I give at least a 2 thousand pound over exaggeration on each part of the shipment." He gets to his feet "If that's all, Sarah I'll contact you with the time of departure tomorrow."

I nod, opening the door "Thank you."

He shrugs as we move towards the car where it's out the front of his house, waving his arm in the air the gesture encompasses his property from one side to the other "You saved all of this, I figure I owe you a few no questions asked favours."

Jax all but drags me to the car, shoving me in the passenger's seat, it's not till we're back on the road that he opens his mouth "I'm done being polite for the day. I just got out, just got my wife back. While I would have loved to have spent the last few days in our bedroom with it as a no-clothes zone I couldn't cause of doctors' orders. You gave birth the day I came home, making it even more of a can't do. I'm not sharing you more than I have to."

My cheeks colour, knowing what he's talking about and in the silence of the car I decide now is as good a time as any to address it "Baby, you know I would have loved nothing more than to have been able to jump back into bed with you, but the fact is we couldn't. I'm sorry about that, you've got another 5 weeks or so before Peg will even consider clearing me for any sexual activities and now you're travelling to another country." I bite my lip, to stop a sentence from coming out before continuing "I guess we'll just have to make it up for it after those 5 weeks."

Jax looks over at me through confused eyes before chuckling "I hope you're not planning on telling me I can use the 'road pussy' clause cause you know that ain't fucken happening."

I roll my eyes "Don't make promises you can't keep."

Jax snorts, grabbing my hand "I'm not."


	22. Chapter 22

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Website where all photos of all outfits mentioned is on my profile.

The three days between our odd request to Elliot and their departure passes quicker than the blink of an eye. One second we're leaving Elliot's farm, then the next I'm standing in the lot of TM in the pre-dawn hours watching as Clay, Piney, Tig, Happy, Jax, Opie and Chibs load their packs in the back of the van.

Cam had refused to come to the lot to say goodbye, insisting that it was much easier on her saying goodbye from their house where she didn't have the additions of other emotional old ladies. Jax's goodbye's with the kids had happened the previous night before they'd gone to sleep, the twins not understanding anything at all and Abel only understanding that Daddy gave him longer than normal hugs before bed.

Donna had told me that her twins had refused to go to their own bed, knowing that Ope was going away for a week they'd crawled into the middle of their bed and refused to leave. Rebecca hadn't noticed a difference, just like Caden and Bailey; her being so young was a distinct advantage.

Jax strolls over once the packs are all in the van, wrapping his arms over my shoulders "We're all good to go now. The plane's due to take off in an hour."

I nod, nuzzling into his chest "I know baby."

Wrapped in the circle of his arms I refuse to move till Clay calls that they're leaving when an unexpected sob erupts through my lips. Jax looks down at me "Don't cry, I'll be back before you know it."

I sniff once nodding against his chest "I know, but I just got you back."

Jax chuckles, leaning down and kissing my forehead "I'll ring you every night, I promise."

I shake my head, kissing his chest through his t-shirt "Don't make promises you can't keep, you never know when you're going to get side-tracked and forget."

Jax kisses my nose grinning at me "I could never forget you."

I roll my eyes upwards, shaking my head "Not intentionally. But we're being given the evils by a bunch of people who want to leave. So kiss me and go so you can come back."

Pressing his lips to mine he wraps his arms around my waist, ignoring the sounds of movement from behind us, voices calling across the lot, the gates being opened, the sound of the van starting and then loud footsteps across the concrete.

"Jax if we don't go now the plane will leave without us." Opie's voice is a few feet behind us, Jax sighs, pulling away a fraction of an inch and nodding.

"Ok bro, I'm ready." Pressing another kiss to my lips he steps away, turning at he reaches the van "Love you babe."

"Love you too baby."

Gemma steps in front of me before I can watch the van door's close behind him but it's enough when I hear the van pull away for the tears that were hovering in my eyes to fall. Wrapping her arms around my shoulders she leads me into the clubhouse "It's okay sweetheart, they'll be back before you know it." I resist the urge to snap at her, rolling my eyes instead she pushes the door open "And besides," she continues "I'm sure that you'll be kept busy while he's away."

I shrug one shoulder "Yeah I will be, between the kids and the stores I know I will be."

Donna reappears at my side, holding my coffee cup in one hand, handing me the cup she chuckles as Gemma disappears. "I bypassed the tea this morning. I know Peg said that you can have coffee again so here." 

Taking the cup from her the smell that reaches my nose makes me smile through the tears still wavering in my eyes "Thanks D."

Putting her arm around my shoulder she leads me back towards the clubhouse "Do you want to go back to bed for a while?"

I snort out a laugh "Yeah, cause five minutes from now when the kids wake up I'll be so much more rested."

Donna giggles as we walk through the clubhouse, the unconscious bodies over the floor having not moved at all since we left to say our goodbyes. Opening the door to the kids room Donna chuckles "They're already awake. All of them."

Ellie and Kenny are already out of their beds sitting on the floor at the end of the bunks with some toys between them. Abel's on his feet holding onto the side of the crib with one hand, his other stretching out to the bottle he can see on the dressing table and all three infants are making a variety of noises. Rebecca is crying Caden is sniffling in a pre-cry vocal warmup and Bailey is a stage past her brother, the squeaking noises building to a cry.

"Ellie, can you pass Abel his bottle. Kenny can you grab that pillow and pass it to Aunty S." Donna says as she drops the side of Rebecca's crib, changing her nappy while I get situated on the chair. Lifting the side of the crib again she turns and picks up Bailey, passing her to me then Caden following quickly before she picks up Rebecca and sits in the other chair.

Cocking my head to the side and looking at her quietly it takes a few minutes in the quiet room before she notices "What?"

"I was thinking that you should come stay with me till the guys get back. That way Neeta is around every day." I make sure to speak quietly, so that neither of her twins hears me, my voice only a whisper in the room.

She looks down at Rebecca, running a finger over her cheek with a smile "I'm not sure S. Three infants, one toddler and two rascals in one house?"

I nod "Yep sounds perfect."

"You're insane but I'll do it." Donna replies, her eyes glazing over "Baking. Yum."

I chuckle as Caden pulls away from his breakfast and grizzles again "You know I haven't actually been near my kitchen to cook since before Jax came home. We've been living on all those meals I pre-made and froze that you laughed at me about."

Donna shrugs "Well it was weird. You make a month's worth of meals in one weekend."

Poking my tongue out at her she pokes me in the arm with her fingertip "Think your piglets are done Mom."

Looking down I notice that not only has Caden moved his head away so has Bailey. Carefully arranging myself so I can pick them both up I stand up, letting the pillow drop to the floor at my feet before crossing the room to the crib where the side of Caden's is still down. Changing them both they're almost asleep before they're back in their beds again. Turning around to look at Donna I bite back a giggle, Rebecca has fallen asleep attached to her and Donna's starting to doze off.

Shaking my head at the insanity of my life I carefully lift Rebecca out of Donna's relaxing arms, putting her back in her crib then turning to the older twins "Come on, let's leave them to their naps. It's hard work growing." Leaning down between the two I whisper "And we know that your Mommy needs to get taller."

Both of them start giggling as we leave the room, closing the door behind us.


	23. Chapter 23

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Website where all photos of all outfits mentioned is on my profile.

It's almost 24 hours before I hear anything from Jax, my cell phone ringing somewhere around 3 am the day after they left. His voice sounds beyond exhausted and he barely manages to tell me that they've landed and are at the Belfast clubhouse before he trails off "Sorry haven't slept yet. And we're sitting down with the Kings at 4pm, local time. Which is in about 6 hours."

"Go get some sleep then baby. Do you want me to ring you in about 4 hours to make sure you're awake? I'll be up with the twins by then. Oh, and by the way D and her kids are staying here while you're gone."

"Okay about D. Yes, please ring me in 4 hours. I'd rather have you waking me then Clay." Jax trails off again, his breathing steadying.

"Jax, wake up and hang up the phone. I love you; I'll wake you at 7, my time."

Jax sucks in a startled breath, his voice more than ¾ asleep when he agrees, the muttered 'love you and kids' coming a second before the disconnected tone.

Four hours later I ring Jax back, having slept another hour, showered, dressed and cooked breakfast for all the current residents of our house I'm a lot more awake this time, Jax still sounds tired, but at least this conversation manages to have coherent sentences.

"Baby, it's time to wake up. You've gotta meet the Kings in 2 hours and I know you'll need to have a shower, and lots of coffee before then."

"I'm up." There's the sound of blankets moving, and a low groan then nothing.

"Jax. Wake up." I bite my lip to not laugh at the grumbly sleepy noises he's making.

"I'm awake." His breathing evens out again, faster than I would have expected.

"Jackson Teller. Sit up right now. You need to have a shower, get dressed and have some coffee before your meeting with the Irish Kings, which is in 90 minutes."

"Okay, okay, I'm up." Jax sounds sleepy, but more awake "I'm even out of bed."

The sounds of bedsprings moving and then what sounds a floorboard creaking "I am now across the room from the bed."

I give up on holding back my laugh, a little giggle escaping "That's good baby. I'm sure that someone there is making coffee for you. And at least you didn't have Uncle Clay waking you."

There's a second of silence before he laughs "Sounds like Chibs just got a wakeup call involving a blow up doll. Did D wake Ope?"

"Not sure. She's upstairs at the moment with her monsters so she might have."

"Nope she didn't. I just heard Clay in there with him; he's in the next room from me so my wakeup should be next. Hang on." I hear the floorboard creak again and then the door opens "I'm awake already. No painful wake up for me thanks."

He starts laughing as the door clicks closed again "I think I disappointed him, he had a bucket of water in his hand."

"I'm going to blame that on sleep deprivation. If I know Uncle Clay he probably hasn't slept at all yet. Make sure you eat something, and ring me later." I tell him, moving back into the kitchen with the mail I'd been collecting.

"Will do. Love you. Take care of yourself, and the kids."

"Love you too baby." We disconnect the call, dropping my phone onto the table I leave it there with the mail while I collect my laptop from the lounge.

The morning passes faster than I would have thought, even with the amount of time I spend sitting in the nursery thinking of Jax and wondering how he's doing, five thousand miles away.

All the kids are asleep and I'm back in the kitchen with D just before 2 when her cell phone rings. She picks it up wandering outside, whispering "Hey Ope."

Reopening my laptop I jam my earbuds in my ears, starting my 'Rock chick' playlist and start updating the finances from the two stores, paying the bills for the house and the stores and checking my email while Lizzie Hale sings in my ears.

"Hey S. I was thinking we could go into online shopping."

Spinning on my chair I yank the earbuds out as my hand flies to my chest "Fuck Ly. You scared the shit out of me."

"Sorry." She says, sitting down and running a hand through her hair "I thought you heard the door."

I shake my head, dropping the cord on the table "Didn't hear a thing, earbuds are wonderful things. Apart from when people scare the life out of you. Anyway. Online shopping; why, aren't you busy enough?"

Lyla chuckles "Yeah I am, but we can always be busier."

Cocking my head to the side I think about it for a few minutes, Lyla leaving me to my thoughts as she gets up and putters around my kitchen making a fresh pot of coffee (one of the first things I forced her to learn).

"If we get any busier then I'm going to need more full time employees. Cam and Al are already doing part time for me and part time for Lu. You're working full time for me, so is Cherry. The only other person I could employ that I trust is D." I shake my head once "At the moment I think we'll leave it as it is. Maybe in future if things slow down we can look at it."

Lyla pouts for a second, bringing the coffee to the table "Okay then."

Frowning it takes a second before I look at the clock on the wall "Why are you here now? Shouldn't you be at work?"

Lyla shakes her head "We're actually completely out of stock. That's what I wanted to tell you. We're going to have to increase our orders, or keep more in storage. Even with the orders we're doing twice a month we're running out of clothes. There's an order on the way, but it's not due for another three days."

I snort "And you wanted to get into online shopping when we can't even keep one store stocked."

Lyla shrugs "Yeah well. What are we going to do?"

Picking up my coffee I close my hands around it "What I want to know is; why are we so busy. Charming is tiny. There's no way that everything we're buying and selling is staying in Charming."

Lyla laughs "Actually, I had a conversation today about that with one of our customers. The word's spread in Lodi, Stockton, Modesto and pretty much every other place between here and the California state lines that we're it for alternate clothes and shoes unless you want to buy online and risk having to send back things that don't fit."

I cock my head to the side "So why the question about going into online stuff? You don't really want to."

Lyla shakes her head "No I don't, I like being able to guide the customers into things that they wouldn't normally try and find that they love them, what we need to do though is look at pulling out that wall and opening the whole top floor."

I hide my smile at the emotion that creeps into her voice and take a mouthful of my coffee "You bring me a mock-up of the floorplan, showing how it'll work and I'll talk to Elliot."

AN: I do actually have a 'Rock Chick' playlist, contains Halestorm, The Pretty Reckless, Evanescence, 2 New Zealand bands (Devilskin and Tadpole), a few Miley Cyrus songs and some Cranberries.


	24. Chapter 24

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

I don't hear anything from Jax for the rest of the day, having seen Donna while she spent almost 40 minutes on the phone with Ope I'm more than a little annoyed, but with the six children, one dog and one best friend in my house I don't have the time to do more than frown about it.

Donna finally mentions my obvious agitation when half way through cleaning the kitchen after I give up, dropping the bottles into the sink with a huff.

"You okay?"

I shake my head furiously "Nope."

"Wanna talk about it?" 

"Nope." I snap "What I want is a glass of wine. Or my husband here, not on the other side of the planet."

Donna gets to her feet silently, leaving the room but retuning a couple of minutes later with two wine glasses. Going to the fridge I listen to her moving around until she sits back in front of me "It's sparkling grape juice, but it's close enough."

I snort and shake my head "It's not. Nowhere near it."

Donna sighs and reaches across the table "I know it's not. What's up? Tell me."

I lower my head to the table with a thunk "I just can't get over it."

"What?"

"Everything." I spit out, knowing that my anger isn't aimed at her "I'm not angry at you but you're here, you'll listen and let me vent."

Donna nods "Course I will S. Vent away, you blew up at Hap but that was only part of what you've been holding in."

I file that away to bring up at a later date before opening my mouth and letting a torrent of words out "Why the fuck did he punch some asshole? Why didn't he look around before being a Neanderthal and acting like a brainless twat? Why didn't he listen to me when I called his name? Why did he have to be given six months inside? Why did it happen while I was pregnant? He should have been here, for every day of it. All the moaning and bitching and rearranging and annoying I did should have been at him, not at you and Hap and Cam, Al, Gemma, Lyla, Cherry, Ope, Clay. None of you should have had to deal with me like that. Why did he leave so fast after getting out?" I bite back a sob "Why does it feel like he wanted to leave. Doesn't he love me anymore? Did his time in jail make him realise he didn't feel that way, that he doesn't want me but he doesn't know how to say it?"

Donna shrugs "I don't know S. I can't answer any of that. You need to talk to Jax."

I sigh, leaning my head into my hands "I can't. I don't know how."

Donna chuckles "Then maybe I should just record our conversation so you can play it back for him."

I snort "He'd never watch it. He's never here."

Donna frowns "Be fair on him S. He's just gotten out of jail; he's got to catch up with all the shit that's happening with the club, Belfast and the Kings, the kids, you, your businesses. It's not gonna happen in a heartbeat."

I look up at her and blink slowly "You know you just put it in the right order. The club first, then all the stuff with Belfast and the Kings. Then the kids and I come last." Sitting in silence for a few seconds while my brain filters through that idea "I'm an afterthought. Will I always be one or will there actually be a time when I get moved up in his priority list."

Donna's frown deepens and she shakes her head "You surprise me, you really do."

"Why?"

Leaning back into her chair she folds her hands over her stomach and smiles at me softly "You're so ready to believe the worst of him. It's like you're trying to dismiss your relationship while he's not here to defend himself or fight for you." Donna pauses for a minute, her fingers twisting the stem of the glass "You once told me that everything Opie does is for me and the kids and the club, in that order. Why are you so quick to dismiss what he's doing as not for the same reasons?"

I wave my hand around "Because he's not here. I am, I'm here with his three kids, his house, his businesses, his mother, his club, his family and he's fucken not!" By the end of the sentence my hands are buried in my hair, tugging the strands "I get that he was just in jail and couldn't be here, I get it D, I do. By why did he have a split second home before something else came up that meant he had to go, is he going to get back from Belfast and something _else_ happens that means he leaves me again."

Donna shrugs wordlessly and I get to my feet "If I'm going to be a single mother I'd prefer to know now so I can prepare myself for it. I'm not going to make excuses to my children about why their father is never around."

Donna's head shoots up rapidly "You'd leave?"

I walk towards the door of the kitchen shaking my head "I'm not going anywhere D. Jax is the one making me the single mother here."

Donna waits till I'm almost at the stairs before speaking from the kitchen "That's not fair on him Sarah and you know it."

"It's not fair, but it's true." I whisper, starting up the stairs.

Reaching the nursery I slip through the door and sit on the rocking chair in the corner, looking out the window and down the drive letting my thoughts swirl around in my brain.

I'm not sure how much later it is when there's a soft knocking on the door, all I know is in the time in between I've changed and fed both the kids and they're sleeping again, the mobile hanging over Caden's crib still chiming as the door swings open.

Donna sticks her head through the door with a half-smile on her face "Not sure if you wanted to see me at the moment but I have something for you."

My eyebrows pull together and she steps through the door, one hand behind her back walking closer towards me "Well actually I have two things for you. The first is a reprimand."

I feel my frown deepen as I try and work out what I've done now, other than what had occurred downstairs.

She looks at me with a blank expression that concerns me till she opens her mouth "If you're going to get shitty with Jax for not calling you, the first thing you need to do is make sure your phone isn't on _silent_." She hands me my phone, which she'd been holding behind her back "That's the second thing. And on that note, Jax rang my phone to make sure you were okay when you didn't answer _any_ of the calls he made, or the texts he sent you."

Pushing my phone into my hand she spins on her heel. "He's waiting for you to ring him."


	25. Chapter 25

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Website where all photos of all outfits mentioned is on my profile. Another short one. Thank you NatalieLynn for the idea that you inspired of the road I'm taking.

The first thing I do with my phone in my hand is turn the sound is on, then checking my missed calls and messages my eyes widen with the amount of them, it looks like for the last four hours Jax has been texting me every 15 minutes and calling my phone every 20.

The last message in the stream of them says '_I'm calling Donna unless you answer in the next 5 minutes.'_

Even as I'm looking at the phone and steeling myself for dealing with a pissed of husband my phone blinks in my hand as another text arrives '_I gather you're pissed at me seeing I still haven't heard from you. Not sure what I've done this time. Please at least let me know you're alright.'_

Tapping two of the buttons on my phone I wait while the international call connects, Jax unable to hide the relief in his voice "Thank fuck. I thought something happened to you, but Don said you were fine."

I sigh "I'm not fine, she's lying."

"What's wrong?" Jax's voice is muffled as I hear the sounds of him moving around, the background noise going from the sound of voices to the sound of nothing.

"I'm angry at you."

"What have I done this time?" Jax asks, with a badly concealed sigh.

"You haven't done anything this time, I'm still angry at you for the other shit." While it's fresh in my mind from talking with D I figure it's easy to talk to him now, when he can't distract me with a smirk or by touching me.

"What other shit?"

"Shall I try and get it in order?" I ask sarcastically "Let's start with you not listening to me calling your name the day you got arrested, which led to said arrest and then the six months you spent in jail, while I was pregnant with _your_ children. You were home for all of a blink and a heartbeat and you're gone again, this time on the other side of the world. You missed all the pregnancy hormones and then flew five thousand miles away from me within 6 days of coming home. D and I were talking earlier and she organised your priorities since you got home. Wanna know the order?" I ignore the sound he makes and continue, talking over his half spoken word "She put them in the order of the Club, Belfast and the Kings, then the kids, and then me. The only thing in our life that came behind me was the businesses. I feel like you don't give a shit if I'm here or not." I sigh, my voice fading off "If during the time you were in Stockton you realised you don't love me I wish you'd just tell me."

Jax is completely silent for a split second before his voice comes down the line, his words like acid dripping from his mouth "If you think I don't love you, that everything I do isn't for you and our children then you're insane. If you think I'm _enjoying _being half a world away from you then you didn't listen to a word I said the other day. _Everything_ I do is for you and our children first. The Club comes behind you." Jax sighs and I can hear the sound of him running his hand over his face "I can't apologise enough for being here and not there." There's another length of silence before he speaks again, his voice a soft whisper "The only thing I want right now is for you to get on a plane and come here. I need you at my side."

I shake my head, my brain still angry with him for reasons I suddenly realise are completely unfounded "I can't."

"Why? I don't ask you for much, I'm asking you for this. Please come to Belfast." Jax's voice picks up a pleading tone at the end, something in that single sentence breaks my composure and before I know it there's tears running down my cheeks.

"I can't. I have three children, including two babies that are less than a week old. Do you really think travelling internationally with them would be a good idea, their immune systems wouldn't cope with the influx of bugs at an airport or on a plane."

Jax sighs "You could use Derek's plane, but you're right. Can you do something for me though?"

"What?" I ask quietly, waiting for him to ask me something impossible.

"When you see Peg, tell her about your mood swings. I know she said that it was normal, but you're literally going from sunshine and roses to storm clouds and concrete shoes in one sentence."

I roll my eyes "Probably has something to do with your kids only sleeping about 2 hours each a piece before they're awake. Peg's coming out tomorrow to check all three kids so I'll talk to her then if it makes you happy Your Highness."

Jax laughs "It does. But I better go get some sleep, but Babe, I love you."

I smile through the watery feeling in my eyes "I know. I may be angry at you at times but I love you too. Nothing's going to change that."

"Good. Night."

Hanging up the call I open my text messages, add two recipients and then compose a text message, sending it off as a cry emerges from the baby monitor.


End file.
